The Steve Miller Band had it right when they sang about time slipping into the future all those years ago. In this present day, time for us is a present whose presence is hardly seen or heard. There never seems to be enough time to accomplish your never ending list of tasks within the span of a single week.
Often our to-do lists unravel and lengthen as we complete certain tasks throughout the day. Time has become a never-ending viscous cycle of doing for others at the expense of missing out on the freedom to do what we want. You can’t please everyone all of the time, but shouldn’t you do something that makes you happy? Helping others can give you some sort of a short-lived elation, but true happiness only happens when you are pleased as well.
The best advice I received on the topic was that I am in charge of making my own schedule, so why wasn’t I scheduling in some free time? No one else was going to do it for me, and I could use a short breather to catch up. While it seemed futile at first, delegating a few tasks to others and rearranging some others left an hour a day open for me to escape the rest of the world for some much needed “me” time. If this sounds like something you need, try asking yourself the following questions.
- How often are you going to the store, and at what time? If you are making too many unnecessary trips to the store, cut back or try to combine them. I know one young mom who does her weekend shopping on Friday nights after the kids go to bed. Because nobody has to be up early on Saturday morning and her husband is home to help out, the late night out kills two birds with one stone.
- Find exercise to be a relief and a source of me time? Try to make you next errand more fitness oriented and park further away to wherever you have to walk. Even though it’s not the fresh air you’d enjoy at the park, walking through the parking lot lets you get some sunshine, a great source of Vitamin D.
- Are you a yes person? I used to be one, unable to say no to any request. Even though I truly loved helping others and sincerely wanted to help them, all the extra running around to benefit other people had me tired and feeling run down. I had to set realistic boundaries and once I did, even though a few were surprised to hear me say no, my friends and family respected me for it.
If you feel guilty about taking time for yourself, try signing up for a class to try something you’ve always wanted to learn, like photography, cake decorating, or even a foreign language. You’ll meet people with a like-minded interest, learn something new, but best of all, you’ll be doing it to benefit yourself.
