When was the last time you took some time out to spend entirely for yourself for absolutely no reason other than you wanted to? What if I added to that question – without feeling guilty?
These days most of us (me too) get so caught up in the busy-ness of our lives that we never seem to take a breath that doesn’t have some task attached to it.
Busy-ness is the new black. Everyone is doing it or expects to be doing it. And most of us wear busy-ness like a badge of honour.
For some, me included, the weight of responsibility and the need for filling our lives with doing stuff can be overwhelming. And for those of us who have a tendency to put other people’s needs and dreams first, this can mean it’s hard to see your way clear for time out for yourself without feeling like you should be doing something, anything to get to the end, to the goal.
Phew! It’s exhausting just thinking about it, there are already lists and lists in my head filling up every minute of my day – and well into the night, if I let them – and sometimes I do let them.
All of us need time to re-charge our creative and physical batteries or we just get used up and worn down to empty. And if you’re empty you can’t help anyone, yourself included.
Now there are lots of ways of looking at changing this and the most important thing is to do (or not do) something differently.
Cue Albert Einstein…
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Take time to breathe
So here’s a couple of ways you could do things differently:
- Schedule some time out in your calendar and take it – a few days or weeks holiday or even just a couple of minutes looking out the window at the frosty garden, thinking how beautiful it looks. Just ‘cos. Meet a friend for lunch and a laugh and keep any mention of being busy off the menu, I dare you to.
- Change your thinking about what you’re doing (even the boring stuff) and try doing it mindfully. Any activity done mindfully is a form of meditation. Meditation is great for re-charging the body, mind and soul. Being mindful, being present in the now while you do something can bring you amazing insights, or just restore you. So make a cuppa mindfully. Walk to work mindfully. Speak at a meeting mindfully. Hug your children mindfully. Contemplate your life mindfully.
- And of course journal mindfully.
Thanks for reading (mindfully).
Veronica