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I am too busy.
I never have time for myself.
How can I focus on my future when I have so much to do
right now?
One of the very first things that I do when I begin working with a
coaching client is to ask them, "So just how much time do you schedule to just think and be?
" Of course the answers I get mirror those above and a whole plethora of others that
would make you smile, but mostly make you sad. I used to rush around. I used to think
that time for myself would be something I would eventually get to after, of course, everything else
in my life was done. I was far too important to spend time in my own head when there was real
stuff that needed to be done and real work that needed to be accomplished.
I was kidding myself. In fact using those types of excuses enabled
me to cop out. I didn't really realize how much I was short-changing myself and everyone else
for that matter by buying into that nonsense.
The fact of the matter was I simply wasn't valuing myself. I wasn't
valuing my own time, my own sanity, my own sense of living as I was allowing myself to value
everyone else and someone else's agenda. I allowed myself to buy into the fact that everyone
else's needs came first and that I had to wait. I was putting other people and
"things" in the front of the line and wondering why I continually felt like I was
drowning.
Can anyone reading this relate?
It has taken me years to realize that I will always have "more"
stuff that needs to get done, "more" people who need me for this or that and of course
"more" problems that life is just ever so happy to hand me. I began to realize that
the "stuff" was always going to be there and unless I began to take conscious steps to
take time away, I was going to always feel out of control and like I was barely treading
water.
So I started taking a few minutes here and a few minutes there.
Whether it was walking around the block a few times, taking that early morning run, sitting out on
the front porch and watching the sun set or heading out to the coffee shop to just sit and drink
some coffee and watch people, I slowly began to do it. Whatever I found myself doing I just
let life happen. I let life unfold around me and rather than distracting myself with
a book, my laptop or cell phone, I just allowed myself to be me hanging with
me.
Those few minutes suddenly turned into fifteen here and twenty
there. All of a sudden simply by making concentrated effort every day, I began to find
incredible holes in my schedule. Holes that I would have otherwise filled with mindless
activities like watching television simply because it was there, surfing the web or going to
some event I had no desire to go to. I started to reclaim my time and little by little these
little dates with myself, helped me reclaim my sanity, my creativity and inspiration.
I tell my coaching clients, colleagues and friends that everyone needs a
little down time. Whether it's a few minutes of complete silence or simply getting up from the
desk to walk the building, take some time as your own. Start small but schedule at least five
or ten minutes a day to spend it just with yourself. It feels weird at first because we are so
accustomed to all being attached to a fast paced-life but it is so worth it. The time you take
by yourself will help you undoubtedly face the other "stuff" in your life
better.
It has worked for me and it can work for
you. | 
