Doesn’t it seem like there’s not enough time in the day for self care? Everyday life is full of activities: eight or more hours of work, child care, school, church, community activities and more. And don’t forget your relationships!
It may seem impossible to take care of yourself while
- taking care of a family and keeping up with the house
- or while running a business,
- or working a job,
- or any combination of the above.
But there is a way to solve this problem – through scheduling and calendaring. If you don’t already use a calendar, there are lots of options available. I like to keep info in Google Calendar, but my favorites are a bullet journal and a scheduling app (I use Todoist). Your health and happiness depend on it. Plus, you’ll seriously be shocked at how much more free time you have when you do schedule everything.
Every day, or at the beginning of each week, sit down and find areas that you can fill in your calendar with some self care activities. If you can put those things in your calendar first, right after your required work schedule, you’ll become even more successful at meeting your self care goals.
Try to schedule your self care as early in the day as possible. Schedule everything even if it feels silly. This can include phone calls with your family and friends, a bath, or even a short nap. Once you have it scheduled, stick to it, and make it just as important as the rest of your tasks.
You would never overlook something on your calendar if it pertained to work or your family, so why do that to yourself?
You are just as important as anything else in your life. Your overall health affects everything that happens in your daily life. Neglecting self care can cause horrible moods, depression, and even affect your work in a negative way. In other words, self care is just as important as work and your family.
Adding these activities to your calendar avoids the repeated and all too familiar excuse of not having enough time, or saying, “I’ll just do it later.” There is no pushing something under the rug when it’s on your calendar and the time is blocked out. You already took the time out to make time, so there really is no excuse. Your work or family doesn’t need more of your time. You need to take some time for yourself.
Make sure you schedule in enough time for each self care activity so you can fully enjoy it. Don’t rush these activities, or you will quickly make something that is supposed to release stress, stressful. If you only have a certain amount of time, choose your self care interests wisely. If you only have ten minutes to spare, only do something that takes ten minutes, and stick to it.
It may seem difficult, or a little silly, at first, but over time it will become second nature. You will experience so many benefits, that skipping over your self care will seem insane and unnatural. Self care is just as, if not more, important than your work and family, because it determines how each day will develop for the rest of your life.
