Most of us make time for our children, spouse, family, and friends. Yet we neglect to spare precious moments on just ourselves. HEALTH examines why making ‘me-time’ is so vitally important.
Frenetic Pace
With today’s modern conveniences and gadgets designed to make life easier, realistically we should have more free time on our hands. However Psychologist Devika Singh indicates that instead we are spending more time in the car driving around, emailing more people and spending more time on the computer. “Instead of using the time saved as a result of technology for a self-focused activity, many people tend to use it as an opportunity to take on more responsibilities than they would like, some of which may be avoidable,” she says.
Advantages
The advantages of making time for yourself are that you will feel more relaxed, better able to problem-solve, more likely to think positively with an overall enhanced quality of relationships and therefore better overall quality of life. Time is the only resource we have that is limited and equal for all. It is not renewable therefore it is so important that we make the best use of it. According to experts, stress we feel manifests
itself in many areas of our lives, from physically draining us of our energy, our health, and our vitality to mentally draining us of our ability to make good judgement.
Making Time
Taking time for yourself is really about self-care and is an extremely important component to creating the life you want. Leisure time, says Singh, is important for a career as well. “Several research studies have found that a lack of positive weekend experiences and vacations affect overall mental health, job, and life satisfaction,”
she says, and the psychological effects of a weekend break means an individual will experience better mental and physical health, and an increase in their level of overall life satisfaction.
Daily Time
Experts advise that on a daily basis, take 15 to 30 minutes to think about wonderful things we currently have in our lives, what makes us happy, what we are grateful for, and who we love. This act alone can rejuvenate, energize and focus us for the rest of the day, helping us to make sure our actions and thoughts are towards what we really want and what’s most important to us.
Tips to Making More Me Time
- Just say ‘no’: Learning to say ‘no’ can free up your time. This doesn’t have to mean completely refusing to do all your tasks; instead, it’s all about considering whether other people’s demands on you are reasonable or not.
- Establish boundaries: If people have overstepped the mark with you in the past, then it makes sense to establish some clear boundaries and let them know that you’re not prepared to put up with certain things in the future.
- Break your routine: Breaking habits can significantly reduce your load. Routines can be useful provided that the things you are doing are really worthwhile; however, if they’re not worthwhile, then try your best to break them and establish new routines.
