Taking Time Out

When was the last time someone came up to you and said, “listen: you’ve been working really hard and it’s time for you to take a break and do something nice for yourself”. Never, right? Well, don’t hold your breath waiting for that one to happen! It is up to us to schedule time into our busy schedules to rest, replenish and nourish ourselves.

As women, we are the designated nourishers and comforters. But who comforts us? In order to be the best Moms, the best employees or employers, the best wives or best friends, we have to have time to replenish and revive. We can only give from a well that isn’t dry! When was the last time you scheduled time in your day for yourself? When was the last time that you focused on one task and not 5 or 6?

I can tell you from the personal experience of a type A, multi-tasking queen, that personal “me time” fell way down on my to-do list. In fact, it wasn’t there. But even research shows that you are more productive if you only do one thing at a time with clear focus, and if you take scheduled breaks as well. What would be your ideal “break time” activity? Would it be spending 15 minutes totally absorbed in your children at play? How about going for a walk out in your yard, or a park? Maybe it is a 20 minute hot bath? Perhaps for you, a nice break would be 15 minutes of total silence, where you can close your eyes and just visualize something beautiful for you. The point is this: we all need to reward ourselves with segments of refreshment throughout our day, EVERY day. I don’t want to hear that you don’t have time. Then you REALLY need to make time. We also need to cut back on the number of things we try to accomplish at one time— multi-tasking is out: singular focus is IN!!

I urge you today to consider taking a break. A scheduled 15-30 minutes of pure unadulterated time for yourself. Turn off the phone and feel yourself relax, revive and replenish. Breathe in the possiblities! If you don’t believe me, check out this article published on the Care-2 site. And I hope it feels so good to you that make it a point to have time for yourself everyday! And while you’re at it, try to focus on just the thing you are doing, and not the other 3 items on your list. Odds are, you will do it better, with better focus, and a better feeling of acomplishment! Go ahead, give it a try!