The Fine Art of Being Selfish

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.
--Janis Joplin

‘Loving yourself’ is about treating yourself as you would treat someone who is really, really precious to you. Someone you love so much that you hurt when they hurt, for whom you would move mountains, just to see them well and happy.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Love-Yourself-First---Im-Happy.-Youre-Happy.-Were-All-Happy!&id=61328


I resolved that this year would be the year of me. I always end up explaining that I don't mean that is a totally selfish and self-absorbed way. What I mean is that I have promised myself that I will not sacrifice myself in hopes that one day my needs get met. For example, I was recently asked to fill in teaching for my advisor. The old me would have filled in without question and hoped they would add me to the summer schedule. The new me called and said that I could do it but would have to take time off of paid work and I had seen nothing to indicate that I was going to be scheduled for a summer class--despite previous promises. They hastened to assure me that they were paying (yeah right) and could call someone else. I suggested they call that someone else as he is a noncitizen and may need the money. This is what I mean by the year of me. I will no longer put everyone and everything ahead of me, my wants, my needs, and so on hoping that one day all that self-sacrifice will be noticed and my wants and needs will get met as a reward for many years of martyrdom. In short, I'm getting off the cross and using the wood for a bonfire on the beach.