So over the weekend I took some time out for ME, no dog, boyfriend just me travelling to Scotland to see my sister & have some quality ‘me’ time!
How often have you found yourself
thinking or saying the following?
*I wish I had more time for myself
*I need more hours in the day
*I don’t have time for that
We lead crazy busy lives. And one thing we never seem to have time for is ourselves.
Creating more personal time tops the list of goals many people want to accomplish. With work time, partner or family time & social time all demanding our attention, we are constantly juggling our day to day responsibilities.
Finding as little as 20 mins a day of uninterrupted, relaxing ‘me’ times challenging at best.
But we all know that when we take time for ourselves to pursue our passions, do the things that we enjoy, relax or even do nothing at all, we end up happier, healthier and feeling better. ‘Me’ time allows us to de-stress, unwind & rejuvenate.
When I ask my clients why they don’t plan in more ‘me’ time in their schedules, 3 common themes arise: not enough time, feeling guilty, or it feels selfish.
Remember that no matter what we do, there are only 24 hours in a day, so you can’t create more time, become smart with saying no & prioritising your own time.
‘Me’ time is not selfish or something to feel guilty about. It gives you time to relax, refocus and recharge, returning back to your responsibilities with greater focus, commitment & enjoyment.
You not only deserve this time but you need it for your own well-being. Lack of time for ourselves often leads to feeling frustrated, tired, overwhelmed & out of balance, we lose sight of what’s important to us.
Occasionally I am asked ‘Doesn’t exercise count as ‘me’ time?’ Well the answer is yes & no. If you approach exercise as another responsibility to cross off your list & get more joy when you are done vs enjoying the actual time spent working out, you are probably getting loads of health benefits but not the same kind you get from ‘me’ time. Unless you walk away from your workout feeling renewed, refreshed, relaxed & ready to take on the world once again, you may still need another activity that you do just for the pure joy of doing it.
How can we then make ‘me’ time a reality: firstly decide that you deserve some time to yourself each day, decide how best to spend your ‘me’ time, evaluate the things that are wasting your time each day, learn to say no, at the beginning of each week, take a few minutes to designate specific time slots for all that must be accomplished, including ‘me time’, commit to a minimum of 15-20mins of ‘me’ time every day, create a daily routine, this will then become habit.
Stop wishing you had more time to yourself & commit to putting it in your daily routine. You will be amazed at how a little bit of time to yourself can make a huge difference to your health & happiness.
#happiness #metime #mindfulness
