How many times a day do you wonder what time it is. With the advent of the concept of time, came stress. When our society enveloped the use of the calendar and then the use of the concept of time within the calendar, we set ourselves up for these stressul lives we lead in being slaves to these two concepts. Think about your day. You get up at a designated time (most days) and then you use time to “stay on schedule” as you prepare yourself for you day. You then need to get to your work by a designated time and meet deadlines within their designated time frames. At some point you take a lunch, which is only allotted a certain amount of time before you need to be back to work. Then you have something you have to do after work and you need to be there at a certain time so you need to make sure you are out of work at a certain time in order to be to the after-work thing on time. You also need to make sure you don't spend too much time there because you need to get so many hours of sleep at night so you can get up on time in the morning for work again. Not only that, but while you are living day to day you are planning for certain holidays that may be arriving like Christmas or Thanksgiving and all the preparation you have to make sure you do for them within their time frame so that everything goes according to plan. Could you be more stressed America?
One of the phrases I hear most often is, “I don't have time.” I am here to tell you that, “Yes, you do.” You have the time. The time is yours. I find that people who use that phrase do so as an excuse as to why they didn't achieve something they didn't really want to achieve in the first place. “Why didn't you exercise after work?” “I didn't have time.” “Why didn't you jog this morning?” “I didn't have time.” “Why didn't you go to the doctor today?” “I didn't have time.” I think you see where I'm going with this. Even those people who really think they don't have time need to understand that the time is there and it is theirs to do with as they will. It is all in the planning. You can shift your allotments of time to make room for anything and everything you want to fit into your life, but be careful not to try to fit too much in one day because then you are just adding more stress. If you allot your time, there is no reason for stress. People who cut it down to the wire are the most stressed because they are late waking up, late getting to work, late for appointments, not getting their “in” basket cleared out every day, not weeding through x-amount of paperwork every day, etc. It is great to make goals for yourself to use your time wisely, but then you have to stick to them. If you know you want to exercise in the morning beause it makes your day start out better, get up earlier and plan accordingly. Many people successfully rise early, exercise, shower, eat breakfast and still get to work with time to spare. If you have a very busy position, be realistic about the things you can accomplish in one day without stressing yourself out. Your “in” basket is going to be there every day. You will probably rarely see it empty. You need to triage it in the morning, i.e. go through it and pull out everything that needs to be taken care of in an urgent matter and put those things either on top or to the side. You can even make an “in” basket for urgent matters and keep those separate. Everything else you will get to when you get to it. You have to be realistic about what you can accomplish in one day as a mere mortal. Now, if you have your Wonder Woman or Superman suit on and can use your super powers to go over and above what mere mortals can accomplish, then I say go for it, but let's face it...some days it's hard to get your work clothes on over that suit.
You have the time, now you need to take the time. Take it. It's that simple...just take it. It is yours to take. It was given to you at the time you were born. This is not a difficult concept, although most people make it so. An example of this would be that I wanted to blog before work this morning so I got up an hour earlier. Not only did I get to write my blog, but I also got to enjoy watching the sun come up behind the trees this morning and listen to the sound of the birds waking up all around me. I got to feel the cool, morning air on my skin and smell its early freshness. I like waking up slowly in the morning, savoring the touch of the sheets as I slowly stretch in them, watching something silly on television while eating breakfast in bed and looking out the window, watching the day begin to develop. I take the time. I cherish my time and yes, like every other human on the planet I have my areas in which I stress and waste it, but I work harder and harder on not doing so anymore. I have learned what a precious commodity it is and I feel that I cheat myself if I waste it. It is the same principle as taking hundred-dollar-bills and flushing them down the toilet one at a time and, in my opinion, it is less of a big deal to do that than to waste something as precious as time.
Be kind to yourself and appreciate this gift you were given. Stressing about it almost makes it seem like a bad thing. Do what you realistically can do in one day without overdoing it. Start your morning slowly, work through your work day doing only those things you CAN do without going overboard about it and without letting everyone else make you feel bad about not getting things done in “their” time frame, and do things after work that you want to do without compromising your evening sleep time. If you have a busy job and a boss who is always nagging you to accomplish the impossible everyday, either get this boss to hire you some help or it is time to look for another position people. It IS possible and you can have it if you want it.
There is always time.
Thank you for taking the time to stop and visit and please, if you like what you've read, leave a comment. If you have a blog or website of your own I would love to visit it. After your comment, make sure to post your link and I will stop by and leave a comment as well. Happy blogging.
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