Do you sometimes feel like you are on a merry-go-round getting nowhere fast?
We all live busy lives – work, social life, family, children, extended families, social media. It’s easy to overlook the need to take time out for yourself. Time alone to just relax, reflect and recharge. Time to identify, reconnect and take stock of what really matters.
Five Good reasons
“Why do I need alone time and what are the benefits of it for me?” I’m glad you asked. Well, here are just five good reasons to take time out.
1. To relax mentally, physically and emotionally.
2. To take stock and appreciate what you have and what you’ve achieved.
3. It helps you to decide where you would like to go next.
4. To show yourself some self-respect and appreciation.
5. To help reduce feelings of being overwhelmed and the onset of stress-related illnesses.
The above are all excellent reasons for taking time out, right? But how are you going to make time for this to happen? I hear you ask. Here are three things you can do to help you to create some time for you. It may not be easy for you to put these actions in place but give them a try. As Maya Angelou said… 
Three ways to make time for you
- Delegate – There are always some things that you do that can actually be done by someone else so start asking for help and delegate tasks to others. This will free up your time so that you can do things that interest you.
- Self-care diary – Block out time in your diary specifically for you to spend nurturing your needs. This could be as little as 10 minutes a day. We can all find 10 minutes a day to enjoy a nice cup of tea, read a few pages of a good book, listen to some music, sit in the garden and listen to the sounds of nature, do something artistic.
- Learn to say no – Help others to respect your time by setting boundaries around when you are available and when you are not. Saying no will help you to feel more in control of your time and energy. Your no doesn’t need to mean never, it could be a “no, not right now”. When no is said in a kind and loving way it may even empower the other person into taking action.
Create a diary and get plotting when and how you will be using your time out. What will you do during a 10-minute slot of free time? How will you be spending 30 minutes of me-time?
Shortcut to me-time
Having regular me-time, however small, can take a while to become embedded into your routine so don’t be too hard on yourself if you’re finding it difficult at first.
If you need help my book, Self-care for Busy Women is designed to do just that. It is full of hints, tips, worksheets and checklists to help you create me-time on a regular basis.
Take a look at this book and see how you can quickly start having time to yourself every day!
About Sharon
Sharon lives with her partner, Geoff, in Warwickshire and they have two adult children. She worked for over 25 years in an office environment, gaining qualifications to degree level in finance, business and management. While there Sharon witnessed and experienced many stressful situations and suffered illnesses which were stress-related.
Sharon was advised to make some changes to her lifestyle which included trying complementary therapies. After experiencing the benefits of complementary treatments, Sharon decided to retrain and to share her knowledge and experiences to help others recognise and manage their own physical and emotional stress and anxiety levels.
She has been working as a complementary therapist for over 15 years now and loves helping people manage and reduce their stress levels to feel uplifted, focused, positive and empowered about their lives.
