Find Your Me Time — How to Make time for yourself during the pandemic.

Spring is in the air, and for a lot of people, spring break seems daunting or was postponed. You want to go on vacation, but is it actually possible? Do you have enough money? Will you be safe out there?

You want to party with your family and friends, but is that even a good idea?

What you can safely do is find your Me Time. And I don’t mean time to watch a movie or to finally pick up and read that book you’ve wanted to read. I mean making time to think about yourself, about your own person, your life . . .  and draw conclusions based on the things you see around you.

 

(Don’t feel like reading this article today? Watch my recent interview where I discuss the importance of scheduling “me time” every week–especially during a global pandemic. And while you’re at it, DOWNLOAD the ME TIME activity WORKSHEET  for your mind, body, and soul.)

 

Take a good look at your autopilot responses and adjust your actions. That machine is so old! You now live in the NOW and many things have changed. When you find your Me Time, you reinforce patterns of self-care and self-compassion. 

In life’s daily grind, it’s easy to forget about what you want for yourself. 

What about the things you really want to do?

Why do those things end up being postponed and usually never happen?

So how do you carve out time each week to take a closer look at your practical or emotional problems, process them so a solution is generated in your head or in your heart?

One sure way to find your Me Time is to schedule it on your calendar. You schedule everything else you need to do, right?

Write “me time” down as a goal, schedule it on your calendar, and let everyone know that you are not to be disturbed for the time allotted.

Start with one hour a week, and then sprinkle in another hour or two when you can.

 

Find Your Me Time and Release the Uncertainty, Fear, and Anxiety 

We want everything quickly and immediately, but people are living creatures and part of Nature. And in nature, everything takes its time. You cannot command a flower out of the ground.

Real solutions are created in your subconscious. You can compare it with the growth process of a bulb. If you pull it up too early, gestation will be interrupted, and nothing will be left of it. This also applies to our creative processes.

If you want to change something important about yourself or your life, take the time to sincerely experience your feelings about it; help it mature by connecting yourself to the Universe.

Find a type of meditation that appeals to you. My favorite guided meditations were created by Synctuition. CLICK HERE to get their app. 

If negative habits, thoughts, and feelings play a major role in your life, it’s probably because you’ve become dependent on fulfilling all kinds of conditions.

You’ve collected those conditions that you think you have to meet in the course of your whole life and never even thought of discarding them.

So, the older you get, the more rules you must obey (of yourself!), it seems. If you don’t take the time to take a close look at them, you will remain a slave to your own autopilot.

• You live a frantic lifestyle, trying to catch up with yourself and feeling rushed and unfulfilled.
• You are confused, and your mood is below zero. 
• Anxiety, depression, and insomnia are lurking.
• You want to do all kinds of things but don’t get to it.
• You lose interest in life.

No more running away from your own bottlenecks but facing them and solving them.

With more me-time, you get to know the bottlenecks that are limiting your living experience, and only then can you solve them. What if you could change all those negative situations and feelings you encounter every day by making more time for yourself? Wouldn’t it be a shame if you overlooked that possibility? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Is your life eternal?
• Do you love yourself enough?
• Do you understand that you can only be there for others if you feel good about yourself?

“Me Time” Is Imperative If You Want to Sustain Health and Happiness

With more time for yourself:

• you are in control of your thoughts;
• you don’t have to work as hard because you know exactly what you want;
• you sleep better, and you are more efficient;
• you only do what you think is important or beautiful; and
• you are motivated and inspired.

How can you get a good and lasting result?

By don’t try to do everything at once. Plan your activities or make a list if you like lists. Start right now to do this in your way and do it the way you want.

That plan should be set up to remind you every day to take it up, both in time and activity.

Here’s an example:

• DAY ONE – Devote 2 minutes to your thoughts three times a day.* Stop what you are doing to take a look within. Take a deep breath three times and sense your feet on the floor.
• DAY TWO – Add one minute to this practice. 
• DAY THREE – Make it 5 minutes at a time and sit down to look at your thoughts and your emotional life.
• DAY FOUR – Make the first 5 minutes of silent meditation and increase the number to a bit longer or more often, whichever suits you best.

 

After a week like this, you have arrived at a place where you feel comfortable doing a morning meditation that lasts about 10 minutes. Or maybe take a walk with the plan in your head to pay close attention to your own feeling of life.

If you want to do it all beautifully, combine it with stretch movements. Then the positive effect on your nervous system is doubled. You get the idea: take it one step at a time so that you can get used to it slowly and not be put off by it.

 

Give yourself three weeks to implement this and keep a journal about it. Every now and then, look at the difference it makes in your life.

 

*Time to devote to your emotions, thoughts, and meditation are two different practices. At first, you let your thoughts and feelings run free, and you look at them; you are the one who has them, but you also the observer of them. In meditation, we often try to release thoughts. (If that does not work out immediately, that is very much OK.) 

If you want to learn more about how to become your own best friend and become a better friend of those around you, learn more about the Sense of Self (SoS) Method Online Course.