Do you automatically recoil when you see this question? Does the very thought of spending an hour to yourself make you feel a bit queasy ? Or perhaps you did a little scoff inside – who has the time these days ? Maybe you thought, ha an hour a week no problem but an hour a day is ridiculous.
One of the first principles around self-care is working towards the acceptance of the idea that you do indeed not only deserve but need the time and space for yourself. Some people readily accept this conceptually but practically they find it impossible to implement. Others may feel a large amount of resistance to the very idea; bringing up lots of limiting beliefs and other people’s thoughts about this. How we view and spend our time is so open to judgement and opinion, whether it’s the old messages about “down time” meaning you are lazy or introspection being seen as “anti-social”. The cult of being busy has a lot to answer for. Social media is full of people documenting the business of their lives, all the time and energy put into other people, keeping up the routines.
Are you are the person who successfuly schedules everyone else’s time, who has the family calendar fully up to date and accessible across multiple devices ? Maybe you run your own house just for you and you have a well rehearsed work/life routine. If so, then the skills that allow you to juggle so many competing priorities and tasks are actually your self-care superpowers. You get stuff done my friend. Imagine if you turned these skills to your own needs? Would you still be able to say that not putting time in for yourself is a logistical issue? What if you reframed things a little and allowed dedicated time for you. If you feel resistance, how would you respond to a frazzled friend who talked about needing more time for themselves? Imagine the possibilities if you were your own non-negotiable.
