I have been struggling with time for ages now. Never having enough of it. Wishing there were more than 24 hours in a day, Wishing it was 20 years ago when time seemed endless.
I was speaking to a very close and wise woman the other day and we were both lamenting over this lack of time. What we realised was that time is still the same. Always has been and always will be 24 hours in every single day. Well ... who would have thought?
I often think back to when I was young and it seemed my parents had endless time to sit at night and do nothing but watch television, knit, embroider and do crosswords. They were in bed by 10 pm and rarely did I hear them complain about having no time.
Time hasn't changed - there are still 24 hours and they still take the same amount of time to tick over. So what has really changed?
I often wonder when I'm going to get all that "spare" time my parents seemed to have. I keep saying it will happen one day - when the kids get older - well they are late teens now and I can honestly say I have even less time than when they were little!
Well, back to this close and wise friend I mentioned earlier - I say she is wise, because she said to me ... "Annie, this is how life is now - it won't go back to how it used to be. The only way we can have time to ourselves now is to schedule it in."
Wow, that statement really impacted me. This is something we all have to do. Every single day we need to schedule in some "ME" time. Down time where nothing else matters but chilling out and taking a break. That is why so many of us feel so tired, stressed and overwhelmed. We are waiting for the "down" time to just happen. It isn't going to! We have to make it happen ourselves.
What are you going to do for your down time? And ... are you going to take some today?
I was speaking to a very close and wise woman the other day and we were both lamenting over this lack of time. What we realised was that time is still the same. Always has been and always will be 24 hours in every single day. Well ... who would have thought?
I often think back to when I was young and it seemed my parents had endless time to sit at night and do nothing but watch television, knit, embroider and do crosswords. They were in bed by 10 pm and rarely did I hear them complain about having no time.
Time hasn't changed - there are still 24 hours and they still take the same amount of time to tick over. So what has really changed?
- Women now work more than they did back then and we suffer "mother guilt" so we feel we have to do absolutely everything they did, plus a full time job!
- Shops are always open - so instead of sitting down and relaxing on a Sunday afternoon, we are rushing off to do the shopping so our kids have lunches on Monday!
- Computers are always open - the internet never closes - so we do our banking, pay our bills, email our friends, do our budgets, surf the web and Facebook and Twitter every night.
- Our kids seem to do more - ballet, singing, footy, soccer, tutors, drama, cricket, gymnastics - the list goes on. When I grew up it was one sport and you found your own way to training and the games.
I often wonder when I'm going to get all that "spare" time my parents seemed to have. I keep saying it will happen one day - when the kids get older - well they are late teens now and I can honestly say I have even less time than when they were little!
Well, back to this close and wise friend I mentioned earlier - I say she is wise, because she said to me ... "Annie, this is how life is now - it won't go back to how it used to be. The only way we can have time to ourselves now is to schedule it in."
Wow, that statement really impacted me. This is something we all have to do. Every single day we need to schedule in some "ME" time. Down time where nothing else matters but chilling out and taking a break. That is why so many of us feel so tired, stressed and overwhelmed. We are waiting for the "down" time to just happen. It isn't going to! We have to make it happen ourselves.
What are you going to do for your down time? And ... are you going to take some today?
I'm with ya Annie. It's a Pressure Cooker Society we've created. We stand in front of microwave ovens saying 'Hurry Up!'.. We gotta take some time out to pick some strawberries. (or go to the Kingscliff Pub) Seeya!