So in my last post I said I was going to start doing three things each day to take better care of myself. Brush my hair (seems a simple task I know, but not so simple for those who suffer with depression), uptake a skincare regime, and go to the gym. So far so good, I have been doing all of these things and I am already starting to feel better about myself.
Time is such a precious thing, but often we do not use it wisely, and often we don’t even consider how we are using it. I was thinking the other day about all the things that we don’t do, like taking off our make up, because we choose not to find the time. And of course all of the things that we do find time for, like scrolling through social media, that may not be so important. Let’s face it, brushing my hair and washing my face will give me many more benefits than looking at my Facebook newsfeed. It suddenly occured to me that there is time for everything, and that we should make time for everything, even things that may be considered wasteful. Everyday does not need a scheduled timetable that must be adhered to but why can’t we give it a basic structure. I spoke in my anxiety checklist about finding the time each day to meditate. I have now decided that there are three categories that I want to make sure I include in every day. All of these things are ” me time ” , whether you get half an hour, an hour or three hours of ” me time ” each day I think this is a really good way to utilise the time that you have.
The first category is self care, as I discussed in my last post, skincare, excercise, meditation, massages, facials, manicures. Anything that you can do or like to do to take care of your health, your image, your well-being. Hence why I’m sitting in bed with a face mask, I’ve already removed my make up, washed my face, now I need to wash off the facemask and apply my night cream.
The second thing I want to utilise my ” me time” with is something with purpose, something important or inspiring. Something that’s going to help you go forwards in life. Whether it be listening to motivational speeches, researching something, writing a blog, looking into ways to make your dreams a reality. Whatever it is that is going to help you keep moving forward, rather than get stuck in the present without being able to make the changes needed to really achieve your goals.
And finally, junk time. It may seem a little unfair to call it junk, because, to us its entertaining. Whilst it may not be useful to our future, whilst we may not learn anything, entertainment is needed for our well being. We need to have a laugh every now and then, free our minds from everything and just relax, a little like a child again, that knows nothing but playing games . This could be watching a film, reading a fiction book, scrolling through social media, going out for drinks, video calling a friend, playing a game. I think this is the category that often many people don’t struggle to find time for, but spend too much time doing these things and neglecting the other things needed in life for a healthy balance. Some people are quite the opposite and do not find any time for their own entertainment and this adds more stress and unhappiness to their lives. If we work hard we can play hard right? But you have to be doing the work, you have to be caring for yourself, and you have to be doing things that are useful as well as playing if you want to be successful and happy. There’s no point in watching every film on Netflix but feeling like your going nowhere in your life and complaining that you didn’t have time to paint your nails.
Make time for everything that’s important, and also make time for those who things that are not so important but nonetheless vital to stop us from becoming insanely over worked.
Until next time.
Inside the struggles of a survivor 