Stop Letting Your Time Manage You

We live in such a fast-paced world we are busy with something all the time! There are so many things fighting for our time and attention each day, it can feel draining just to try to get everything done for ourselves and the people that depend on us. The second we don’t have something that needs our immediate attention we struggle to figure out what to do with our time. The big question is what to do with the small amount of free time we have. What do you want to do? What fills you up?

These seem like simple questions but they can be hard to answer sometimes. Especially when you want to make the most of your time, it adds a lot of pressure while trying to figure out what will build you up.

The average American works 40 hours a week, and sleeps 49 hours a week, that leaves 79 hours to get everything else done that we need to and see how much time remains.

Just reading that is stressful. We put so much pressure on ourselves to do EVERYTHING! It feels like we constantly need to be busy doing something, and down time can be just as stressful as when we are busy.

We keep thinking about what we should be doing, what needs to be done, what the next week looks like. Our brains never get a break. We think about everything while trying to fall asleep and as soon as we wake up. How can we live our best life? What do we want our lives to look like? Our thoughts immediately go to what the future looks like. We can’t even feel like we are living in the present and enjoying the things around us. We don’t even acknowledge how far we have come in life or the things we have overcome. 

It’s easier said than done, it takes practice and reminders to ourselves. But we need to be easier on ourselves, we do so much and it’s amazing.

Take time to write down things you wish you had more time for, things you want to do, and things that bring enjoyment to your life.

That’s the first step.

Take a deep breath, and do one thing at a time. Everything will get done, even if you aren’t stressing about it, it will get done. Look at what you’ve accomplished and how hard you work each day, we are so hard on ourselves and always expect more from ourselves.

That will never lead us to peace of mind, it will only cause us to feel guilty when we aren’t working every hour of every day. You deserve to take time for yourself, to reflect, and to feel relaxed.