LEARN TO MAKE MORE TIME FOR YOURSELF
Posted by ELIZAVETA BENNETT
Learn how to slow down and to make more time for yourself. The world keeps getting faster and we all need to find ways to relax.
This is a subject that I didn’t fully understand until I left employment and moved into the world of self-employment.
Stepping off the employment treadmill really opens your eyes to the pressures we are all under every single day. We are all caught up in it. Most don’t see it, some do and these people tend to be more aligned with self care and mindfulness exercises. Learn to make more time for yourself.
The world gets faster and we can’t keep up, technology improves and we can’t keep up, the days feel shorter, the weeks shorter, the years shorter and we can’t keep up! No wonder we all complain we don’t have enough time. Are any of these things set up for our benefit? If technology is there to help us we should have more time? Automation means we do less, so where does the time go?
More Work, Less Time
In my previous life it was all emails and computer programmes for designing buildings. Emails were meant to be an improvement on letters. All it has meant is that we are expected to respond to any question, at any time, on any day including holidays. There are no holidays. Computer programmes were meant to be an improvement on the drawing board. All it has meant is that we are expected to meet tighter deadlines as “you just have to press a button”. More work, less time.
I would guess this is a similar story in most other lines of office work.
Longer hours; more work; less staff; more efficiencies; shorter deadlines, and that’s before we deal with the kids; organise dinner; look at homework; tidy up and finally relax. No wonder we all say we have no time for ourselves or to learn new skills.
Time For Self Care
The problem is we don’t self care. We don’t make time, don’t open ourselves to new skills and we don’t make time to feed our creative selves. Being creative is what feeds the soul. Working with your hands on a creative project is therapeutic. It helps clear the mind by focusing on the task at hand.
As adults, we stop learning and evolving. Getting a new app on your phone is not the same thing. Discovering a new bakery round the corner isn’t the same thing. We stagnate and the fear kicks in. Fear of new things, of learning. Fear of being outside our comfort zone and maybe looking foolish, so we close ourselves down to any new opportunities, then wonder why nothing changes in our lives.
Time To Think
Life is not set up to give you thinking time. Thinking time doesn’t suit the system as there is a chance you stop and realise it (the system) doesn’t work for you. More people are realising it though. Lockdown has given people that chance. More are taking the time to make time. It may be yoga, art classes, dancing or crafts, but more people are realising this madness needs to slow down.
This is one of the reasons we provide online fashion design courses. Get outside your comfort zone. Stop giving yourself excuses. Push yourself. Learn a new life skill. Feel pride. Be OK with looking silly – initially.
We all sat behind the wheel of a car and knew nothing of driving, but we learned.
Life is going to get faster and more insane but only if you let it.
Slow down. Take a breathe. Do something creative and learn to make more time for yourself!