Halfway through my shower time rendition of “Pretty Girl Rock” by Keri Hilson, this week’s topic hit me...Focus on You! “I’m fly oh my it’s a little bit scary…” As I kept singing, the ideas kept flowing! Toward the end of the second verse it occurred to me that maybe I should write down some of these amazing ideas …I didn’t. The next thing I know the week is over and I can barely remember what I did yesterday let alone my brilliant shower revelations!
Crazy weeks like that don’t come around very often and now I understand why…I’m exhausted!!! This week I dog sat for a friend, which I absolutely love to do, but that meant I was on doggie time. Doggie time involves such duties as walking, cleaning, scooping, feeding, playing etc., all of which take time and planning. Yesterday, I babysat for a different friend. It was tons of fun but I was shifted from doggie time to kid time. Throw in several dinners out, a bridal shower, about 200 miles of driving and my me time was whittled down to virtually nothing!
Everyday people talk about how they simply run out of time. They have kids, significant others, jobs, friends, pets, families, obligations; all of which take up their time. Frankly, with such a busy schedule who has time for me? Mothers especially have a problem with me time. There is always so much to do for everyone else; it would be selfish to do something for themselves. But the problem is that without me time, me disappears.
While reading The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Freidan, I often wondered what it must have been like for women in the fifties. One of my Grandmothers cherished her role as a wife and mother, but it wasn’t always easy for her. My other Grandmother married at the old age of twenty four after having a successful career in fashion and giving it up. I had a lot of questions. Were people really as happy as they were portrayed? Or for that matter were people really as unhappy as they were portrayed? Did women do things for themselves? When I brought these questions to my own mother she replied, “I don’t know but a lot of women on the block went to the loony bin!” She gave me what she could, an honest perspective from a child.
Regardless of who you are or what you do, this fact remains the same, when you spend your all your time thinking and doing for other people then you lose yourself in them. Your identity, your uniqueness, what makes you special: all of that gets blurry.
What I offer is, once again, a shift in perspective. The happier you are with yourself, the better life gets for everyone around you! Start with just two minutes of me time a day. Whether you sing an extra verse in the shower or take an extra minute to drink your morning coffee, it doesn’t matter, as long as you have a minute of your own time!
Decide what makes you happy and schedule in some time for you.
Seriously! Go write it on the calendar!
Personally, I’m going to have some me time with a cup of hot cocoa!
~E
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