We live in a pretty fast-paced, go-get-‘em, hustle-bustle world. The word busy is one that often best describes how we’ve been, how we are, how we’re going to be. We’re being pushed and pulled from many different angles: work, school, activities, obligations, friends and family (God love ‘em, but sometimes they can be very demanding). Have you said any of the following recently? “I’m so busy at work.” “I’m really busy with all this homework.” “I can’t, I’m too busy.” “If weren’t so busy, I would.” All this busy-ness can lead to neglecting something that we all need: personal time.
I’ve seen people burn out, break down, and be downright miserable because they’ve neglected, forgotten, felt guilty about, or were just too busy to remember that putting some time aside for themselves is not only good for them, it’s important and healthy to do. It isn’t selfish at all to put aside some time for yourself. You're allowed to. You're entitled to it. In fact, I would encourage it. We all need personal time to decompress, to defragment, to clear our minds, to recharge our batteries. And there are many different ways in which people take some personal time. Some sing or play a musical instrument, some exercise (yoga and jogging being among the two most popular that I can think of), some pray, some meditate, some nap, some take a hot bath. There are a host of things that you can do for yourself and in no way should you feel guilty in allowing yourself some me-time on a monthly, weekly, daily basis. I know a number of people who take 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour a day just for themselves. They swear by it. And I’ve seen them when they haven’t taken that alone time, that me-time...they can be wound up tighter than the string in a baseball and I wish they WOULD take some time for themselves because I know it does them a world of good. I can think of two friends, specifically. One does yoga, and not to stay limber, not for staying in shape (though those are two positive side effects of yoga), but because there are certain poses and certain combinations of poses that help him in areas he needs that day: vitality, grounding, rejuvenation, presence, igniting...these are just some examples. Another friend jogs, five times a week. He has a stressful job and he’s said that going jogging after work is therapeutic. It allows him to take some time for himself and shed the built up stress from the day.
All this to say that you are important, not only to others in your life, but to you. You are important to you and taking some time and doing things for you is a great way to remind yourself of your importance to you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment