These days everyone says they are busy. They say they don’t have the time to read a book or just take some time for themselves. I was like that too. I was always working and focused on my business and made not so great decisions. That had to change. I wanted to have more time for myself and do the things that would make me feel good. I looked at my schedule and decided to change my whole routine to create more me-time. And you can do it too. Are you not sure how? This is how I make more time for myself. Use these tips and you can hopefully create more time for yourself because you deserve it.
How I make time for myself
Priorities
Recently I asked myself if something brought me joy or not. If not, I asked myself why I am still doing it. At that moment I realized I was doing certain things that did not spark any joy. For example, I decided to waste my time by watching and reading the news too often. I used to binge-watch and now I realized I prefer to read a book instead of watching Netflix. But you can ask yourself if you really want to go out with your friends or would rather stay at home that night.
Plan your me-time
I wanted to read more books, but I did not. I was always focused on work and other things I had to do. Even on the weekends, I did not allow myself to take a break and have an hour or more for myself. That has changed luckily. I try to finish my work on Friday so I have Saturdays and Sundays to myself. Sometimes I still decided to work a little bit, but it is the bare minimum. I wanted to have more me-time and stop working on the weekends, which gave me that free time. On a workday, I come home around 8 pm, which means I still have 2-3 hours for myself. I decided that that is the moment I am going to read books. I decided I wanted to have more time for myself and I looked at the things I did every single day and made some decisions. You can do that too. Ask yourself how much time for yourself do you want every single week and try to create that free time. I bet is possible if you really want to.
Saying ‘no’
I am not a people pleaser. I used to feel guilty when I said no, but not anymore. It is not always easy, but it is totally fine to say no. You don’t want to be the person who says yes to everything and suddenly is stressing out about everything because you don’t have enough time to do everything. My recommendation is to plan your day as normal (work, house chores, me-time) and then look at how much time you still have for other things. And then ask yourself if you really want to do it or are you saying yes because you don’t want to say no. If it is the last one, cancel it and do something else. It is great you want to volunteer, but you really have to want it. Find a place that interests you where you can volunteer.
Also when you are saying no to something, you don’t have to explain yourself. Just say no I can’t. You don’t have to give a whole speech of all the reasons why you can’t do it. It will make you feel more guilty. People should respect your boundaries and your answer. If they don’t accept your no, be happy you said no. You don’t want to be around those people.
Less binge-watching
One of the things I’ve accomplished in 2022 already, is that I decided to stop binge-watching movies and series on Netflix. Before, I always said to myself I could watch one episode and then I watched 10 more episodes in a day. Another reason why I was binge-watching was that at that time I really wanted to write movies and series reviews on my blog. Every week when something came out, I would binge-watch everyone on the weekends. As a result, was that on Sunday evening I was regretting I wasted my whole weekend binge-watching things. Somehow, I kept going binge-watching. But recently I said to myself that this is not good and healthy for me anymore and I wanted to do other things on the weekends too. Especially, because spring was coming. I wanted to spend more time outside. I also wanted to read more books, but I always picked Netflix over books. That has changed this year and I am so grateful that I did that. At this moment, I barely watch Netflix at all and I am also very picky with the things I want to watch. I ask myself if I really want to watch it or not. I stop watching a series if I did not like the first season. At this point in my life, I only want to watch things that make me happy and excited. Only on those days, I don’t feel great (when I am sick or have cramps), I watch a few episodes in a row. But that is it.
This is how I make time for myself. I can understand that if you are taking care of someone (your kid or parents), you will have less time to do it. But even half an hour of me-time should be great. So when you are not taking care of someone, try to find out if you can create some me-time or ask for help. You deserve my time too.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash