You have a busy work schedule, tons of household chores, kids or elderly parents to look after, maybe kids and parents. It feels as if you barely have time to speak to your partner, never mind see your friends, so how on earth are you meant to find time for yourself?
Firstly, you have to decide that you’re going to.
Treat it as a priority, and if necessary create an appointment in your diary. Then stick to it, just as you would an appointment to see a friend or client. You deserve to be treated with the same importance as everyone else in your life, in fact more so because you can’t take care of others properly until you’ve taken care of yourself.
Now think about your typical day, from start to finish. You’re going to look for pockets of free or wasted time, because they can be used differently.
Start with the time you usually get up. Are you awake before the alarm, thinking about the day ahead? If so, you could get up when you wake up and use that time for you. Depending how much time you have, you could do some yoga or simple stretching, meditate, go for a walk or run, read a book, or do anything else which you love to do. Doing something that you love will light you up inside.
If you’re wondering what you could do in the time available, you need to do some pre-planning. Make some time to sit down with a notebook and write down all the things you can think of that you love to do, however long they take. Then get a piece of paper and divide it into rows of different slots of time. Ten minutes, 15, 20, 30, an hour or more. Then write in the relevant rows the activities you love to do according to the time they take. Keep the list somewhere easy to see like a kitchen noticeboard, so you can refer to it when you suddenly have some free time but can’t think how to use it.
If you don’t wake up before your alarm goes off, you might choose to set it a little earlier so that you can use the extra time for something you love. Or get up when it goes off instead of hitting the snooze button. You could have a quiet cuppa while you write in your gratitude journal before the rest of the household gets up. What you do doesn’t matter as long as it’s just for you.
Now think about other parts of the day where you can find some pockets of available time.
If you commute to work on public transport, you could use that time to read a book, meditate, practise mindfulness, listen to an inspiring podcast (as long as whatever you read or listen to isn’t associated with work).
Lunchtime on working days is another great opportunity. When you’re busy, it’s tempting to grab a quick lunch and eat it at your desk instead of taking a break. It’s actually more productive to have a break and do something you love. It will re-energise you, which makes it easier to get through the rest of your working day.
Times when you’re forced to wait, like a traffic jam or standing in a queue can also be used to do something for you, perhaps practise mindfulness or a stress-relieving breathing exercise.
If you usually collapse on the sofa in the evening, channel-hopping to find something to watch, you could use that time for you instead. The same goes for time when you scroll mindlessly on your phone.
There are plenty of times during the day when you could do something for you. It might take a bit of pre-planning, but if you really want to do it, you will. It’s worth it because you’ll feel much more positive about life when you start taking time for yourself.
