It’s so common in the business of life – multitasking most of us experience stress and overwhelm in our daily lives – the burn out that comes from too much responsibility and too little time – it’s a dangerous combination. It’s particularly treacherous when that causes you not to take care of yourself, which is all too easy to do when you’re feeling stressed and overloaded.
Here’s the rub dear reader. Especially when you’re experiencing burnout and overload, you need to make intensive self-care a priority. Before you protest and start thinking of all the reasons you can’t (and I know you’re going there) – think about the ideas below for a moment.
You are the most important person in your life.
Even if you dispute that – maybe you choose to put your children first – know that you’re a better parent for them if you show up as the best you can be. You’re more fun, you’re a better role model and that’s just good for you and for them – and for your spouse or partner too. And, the irony is, when you take care of yourself, you are more productive and get more done with greater ease and satisfaction. You’re also healthier in the long run.
It’s important to consider that self-care isn’t selfish; it’s an act of love and self-respect. It’s about Me Time! In order to give love, you have to love yourself, it starts there and without self-love, we all wither. I’m not talking about self-obsession or conceit. I’m talking about giving to YOU what you give to those you care about most.
To that end, it’s important to do something that’s good for you every day. Yes, EVERY single day. You need to feed your emotional, spiritual (however you define spiritual) and physical self. You don’t need to do all of these things every day, but one or more of them, for some time EVERY single day. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time either – 20 minutes can work wonders, truly.
You must make time to schedule an appointment as it won’t happen otherwise. Our spare time is often taken up with unnecessary things and as time is time is just goes as fast as it happens. You have to make time to get things to happen. Setting time away for necessary actions becomes a habit over time, and when you do this you will ask yourself why you hadn’t taken action like this before. It actually give you more quality time. Taking the first step is the hardest yet when done it will become more become more routine, easier to do and the miracle is that it frees up more time because you’ll be more effective as a result. Believe me; it’s much harder to start doing this than it is to continue once you create the habit. Good news: I’m here to help you establish the new habit.
Having Me Time can Start Small
Go out for a cup of tea or coffee with a book, or just stare out the café window and people watch for 15 minutes. Take a walk around the block, make some time to chat with a close friend, plan some time to read a novel – just for the pleasure of it – or watch a movie or a TV show you wouldn’t usually allow yourself to indulge in. Going to the gym is a great solution – the release of energy will give you a sense of well-being. For most, working out 30 minutes of day is vital to greater health, strengthening our body and improving our mental focus to get those necessary tasks completed.
If you find this difficult and maybe exercise is not in your game plan, try playing some uplifting music to inspire and get you motivated to take on the world. In fact, time away from your phone or device of choice can be really difficult, but very freeing. And, it gets easier, I promise, it does.