The Sacrifice

Sacrifice comes in many sizes, shapes, and ways. Each and every one of us sacrifices things throughout our lives. Some physical, some financial, some even mental, spiritual or emotional. Sacrifice is part of the game of life. Each one carrying different weight depending on who you are and what it is. A financial sacrifice may seem small to one person but may carry a greater weight and impact to another. Without living in each and everyone’s lives you can never truly understand the impact a sacrifice has.

Each sacrifice made can take a little bit of a person. Sacrificing little bits of you here and there in a relationship to help ensure the other is ok. But what happens when the sacrifices made are one sided? What if, in order to maintain, you sacrifice too much? A person can easily begin to lose themselves, who they are. There’s really no way around making sacrifices in life as each choice we make can be seen as a sacrifice in some way. Some sacrifices are to keep the peace, others to protect loved ones. Some are made for selfish reasons while others can be as drastic as if you eat today or not. But when sacrifices you make for others go unnoticed, you have just given a peace of yourself to them. Over time, if this is repeated over and over you wear thin. You give so much to others that you begin to find it hard to remember who you once were or why you made the sacrifices and changes in the first place. Your gifts of sacrifice become the norm in people’s lives, giving more and more.

Then suddenly, in some cases, something snaps. You hit your breaking point and realize that this isn’t right. Where have you gone, the real you? You have given so much of yourself to your life and other's with no return. So you stop, you start putting up the boundaries, you stop willfully giving with out cause, you start to question “why?” Why have I given so much of my self to others that I am no longer who I want to be.

Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t make sacrifices, as stated earlier it’s part of life, but what you should be aware of is why you are willing to make those sacrifices. I’m also not saying that you should expect anything back from anyone when you make certain sacrifices as often times you won’t get anything back, and that’s a choice you make for those around you, and your loved ones. What I’m saying is that you need to be aware of the sacrifices you are making and why.

I have touched on my give, give, give, mentality in previous blogs and can tell you that I have lived this. The giving to everyone to ensure they are comfortable, or happy, or whatever, but you get to a point where you need to protect yourself as well. Ensure that you are doing it for the right reasons without burning yourself out and losing who you are. It’s hard once you make that choice as it begins to cause some push back from others. The boundaries you set will cause those that relied too heavily on your sacrifices to maintain who they are, to get confused, angry, and sometimes even panics. I also touched on this in previous blogs, huh is like it’s all tied together and connected, strange, anyway, the shift to make sure you are taking care of you causes other's worlds to rattle and if they have built their life on your sacrifices, it starts to crumble.

So the point I’m getting at is that sacrifices are part of life, but the key to it all is to make sure you are aware of what you are doing. Helping or protecting loved ones around you while still being able to ensure that you do not sacrifice yourself in the process. It can be a fine line to walk and at times an easy one to cross, but being true to yourself and paying attention will definitely keep you moving forward.