The clock is ticking. This sound no longer exists as everything I see is in digital format around my home, making my time seem shorter.
Daily I ask Alexa to wake me up to relaxing music in the morning, half an hour before my wake-up time, and wash and clean my teeth.
The most important thing I do every morning is my devotion to God.
PRAYER & MEDITATION
That is when my day starts, as I have prayed for a proactive day.
Considering my time spent on my regular personal tasks, I am left with 12 hours to divide my time between work and ME.
ME time concentrates on my well-being, exercise, and ongoing projects, like reading, blogging on my website, painting, and writing new books. I also have voluntary commitments in the community.
The question is, when do you find time for yourselves?
Does your life revolve around work and serving others?
More to the point…
When do you find time to give yourself all the attention and sit with yourselves?
We make many sacrifices in life and sometimes are too tired when we come home from work to spend quality time with our thoughts and ourselves, especially if we have people that depend on us. But we must find the time, whether just an hour daily.
I have only started practising finding time to switch off and concentrate on doing something for ME. I used to keep myself busy, working around the clock, until I could no longer keep my eyes open.
My family warned me that I was taking on too much and not looking after myself. It took me a long time to break that habit. Today I know how to shut down and reboot in the morning.
It is always good to do the thing that relaxes you and keeps your mind calm, whether it be mindfulness meditation or an activity you enjoy.
Forcing yourself to do a task you dislike is not a way of looking after your physical and mental well-being.
At the end of a week, I write down my agenda for the following week to make room for anything that may be a last-minute request. I must always be organised.
During the working week, I make sure that I get around 7–8 hours of sleep so that I feel refreshed for the next day. Too many late nights in the week are not acceptable.
Lack of sleep will slow down your performance and contribute to being in a foul mood the next day and making silly errors.
For several years I had a habit of working through my social hours until I would fall into bed exhausted.
I did not have much of a social life and had no time to check in with myself. This left me feeling emotionally, physically and mentally drained every night.
Once you finish work, you must switch off as it becomes the main focus in your life. When you’re having a lunch break, try to check back in with yourself mindfully.
Stress brings on a lot of serious health conditions, so being over-committed to a job will not serve you; employers will always find a legal way to get rid of you to cover their backs. I have been there!
In conclusion, you need to find a way to take time for yourself daily; take heed of my words. I found myself, in theory, looking down at the end of a loaded gun.
In everything, there must be a balance.
Natalie Bleau
Scripture of Balance
