I was chatting with a friend a couple of days ago about what i'm doing at the moment and what my plans are. They shared with me that they felt they should be trying something new, that there's loads of stuff that they would like to try but they just never get any time to themselves...I know where they are coming from, they're busy. Work, especially self employment or juggling work between family life and all the daily responsibility stuff, it's time consuming and depleting on our body and mind.
The glorification of busyness keeps us at the crazy fast pace we are all living at.
When we say we've no time, that's not exactly accurate. We all have the same amount of time in our day, it's how we prioritise and fill our day that is the issue.
I identified with the 'no time for Me' belief pattern. And then my health took a nosedive, big time. I needed to make some lifestyle changes...some of them were very scary, but also very liberating. A year after, I was improving, but still struggling with pain & fatigue and I realised I hadn't been consistently taking proper care of myself and I still ignoring how my body was coping. I required real, boring old self care, to take early nights before I felt shattered, I needed to slow down before overwhelm hit and the dreaded brain fog descended & eat even more nutritiously, dedicating my Sundays to cooking proper food in batches so I eat well through the week.
I now commit to things that previously I didn't feel was time justified. Last January I also decided to commit, regardless of how busy I am, to always carving time every 2 weeks for my own my massage and I now also do regular one to one yoga. I find small amounts time daily for me too. On a full clinic day I rarely miss the walk to and from school with my youngest (I know these days are numbered, she will soon be telling me she wants to go on her own). One lesson that chronic illness has given me is that I can't cheat because I am fit for nothing if I don't do the self-care. I would be letting my family, my clients, my friends...and me down. So, I've let go of the guilt because I don't have a choice if I want to be well.
If you are doing what makes you tick, what lights your fire, that is of benefit of you and those around you. if you just save these moments for maybe a couple of breaks or holidays a year, then that's an awful lot of lost precious time.
