Written by Dr. Leone Elliott

I was talking to a friend of mine, Olympian athlete Gabriel Mvumvure, about sports when he used this analogy.

“It takes the same amount of energy to pick up a cup and bring it to your lips to drink…so regardless of whether you take a sip or a gulp, believe it or not, you will expend the same amount of energy to pick up said cup.” ~Gabriel Mvumvure

Whoa! You know, sometimes it takes someone else to use a different set of words to articulate something, for you to get a whole different insight. I mean…I had never thought of it that way and I have to say, I could not have said it any better.

I was like wow! Forget sports, lol! What a metaphor for life that is and better yet, what a metaphor for wellness. The way I see it, how many people are taking sips of life and wellness today when in fact, they could be taking gulps.

Oh my gosh! Whenever I talk to patients, I sense they spend their waking moments tip toeing around wellness by taking little sips here and there. In fact, occasionally, because the energy they put in to take that sip appears to be more than the end result from said sip, they begin to question whether it is even worth it to invest that energy since the return is so small.

Now, some might argue that it might make sense to take multiple sips to equal that gulp but I ask, why would you keep using up that much energy? You see, society shames us and makes us feel guilty when we take gulps of wellness. The intent is to make you feel selfish that you may be spending too much time on yourself or perhaps, you might be irresponsible if you are not always taking care of others.

Listen! To use another cup analogy, you cannot pour from an empty cup. You have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others. In fact, if you’ve flown before , as part of the pre-flight drill, you are instructed that in the case of the loss of cabin air pressure, masks will fall from the ceiling of the cabin. Oh wait! And this is the most important part…PLEASE MAKE SURE TO PUT YOUR MASK ON FIRST BEFORE YOU ASSIST SOMEONE ELSE!…that goes for your kids, your spouse, your neighbor, whomever!

BOOM! Mind blown! 

I don’t know about you but…I’m. Done. Taking. Sips!!!