Written April 25, 2018

Here we find ourselves in the middle of the week again and what a crazy week it has been so far. Busy, busy, busy! Have you ever found yourself looking at your calendar for the day and every minute of it is planned out? Work obligations, taking care of family, shopping, errands, cooking, cleaning, etc. If you had to add one more thing you just don’t know where you would put it. Isn’t that most days?

If you were to pull out that schedule and closely scrutinize it, in that myriad of tasks that you need to get done between the time you get up and the time you go to bed, would anywhere on that list contain a space for “me time”?

It is amazing that the last thing that makes any list is a block of time that belongs just to us, for our own personal use, in any way we like. A few moments in the day where we can shut out the outside world and forget about the stress of tasks that need to be accomplished. It is a block of time where we allow ourselves to be selfish with those moments and use them to recharge, regroup and focus on nothing else but ourselves. What we do with it is totally up to us. Use it to take a walk alone, read a part of your favorite book, meditate, pray, write or just sit and be alone with your thoughts.

Running this program, a full time job, family and personal obligations make me one of the biggest culprits of avoiding “me time”. However, I have learned some techniques that I use that allow me to snag that time that I need to regroup and recharge. I block out time on my calendar and schedule all work and personal obligations around it. I take 15 minutes out of my day and spend time with my plants around the pool area, something that is relaxing that I enjoy. I work on a needlepoint project that centers me and gives me time to be with my thoughts while soothing away the care of the day. The important thing is whatever I choose, it’s mine and for that moment of the day I don’t belong to anyone else.

We strive to take care of everyone else in our lives, yet we seem to always find it difficult to find the time to nurture and take care of ourselves. If we aren’t “fully charged” how in the world can we expect ourselves to be able to lend a hand to recharge others? If you have gone day after day making sure that the world is taken care of, yet haven’t taken them moment to do the same for yourself, please make it a priority to carve out just 5 minutes today for you. Then expand it to 10 and 20 and eventually get all the way to an hour. You will find the energy it affords you to focus on others will be nothing short of miraculous!

Have a great day and remember to be the reason someone smiles today!

Ron