With work taking up the better part of the day and the demands of healthy love life taking up the other half, even though you may think you’ve achieved the perfect work-life balance, you might feel like there’s still something missing. And that something is the all-important “me time.” Wanting to set aside a few minutes, or even a couple of hours just for yourself is not selfishness. It’s vital if you want to truly enjoy your day.
Be Open About It
If you love running and the many health benefits it offers you, but never find time for it, the first step is talking to your partner and being open about your need for some alone time.
Talking to your partner is perhaps the least creative way to find time for yourself, but it’s often the most efficient. At any rate, this is where you should start when you’re trying to squeeze in some alone-time in-between work and love.
In fact, arguably talking to your partner should be the first option in most cases. It’s difficult, if not impossible to guess what the other is thinking, no matter how close their relationship is. Instead of allowing your partner to try to figure out what is going on, and maybe even image the worst, be open about what’s bothering you.
If both you and your partner are working, perhaps opening-up about needing some me-time will make you both realize you could benefit from doing some things on your own. At any rate, it is important to help them understand that this is something you need on a fundamental level and has nothing to do with your relationship per se.
Share Hobbies
Setting aside time for yourself doesn’t necessarily mean excluding your partner altogether. But you can find certain activities or hobbies that are more you-oriented. It’s good solution for when you are looking to compromise between setting aside time for yourself and working on your relationship.
Of course, you’re going to have to manage these activities carefully. Supporting one another’s goals is a delicate process, and if handled incorrectly, it can damage your relationship. However, if done sparingly, these activities can be the perfect solution when it comes to balancing work, love, and personal interests, like a desire to learn a new skill, or finding a new hobby such as soccer.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, you should try to frame these activities as personal interests in the eyes of your partner. Let them know that you appreciate the fact that they are taking time to join you in this pursuit. But do not force them to enjoy it just as much as you do. That would defeat the purpose entirely.
Make sure you repay them by joining in an activity they would like to pursue as well. The essence of creativity is experimentation.
Take the Long Way Home
There are probably many moments during the day in which you are alone. But we rarely see what great opportunities these moments are. They can be something as simple as the daily commute or your morning coffee.
Making the most of these moments is easy if you afford them the consideration they deserve. Taking the long way home could provide you with time to reflect and meditate without having to change your schedule at all. Hop on your Roadmaster Granite Peak bike and have a little taste of adventure; the city won’t feel as cold and artificial!
Look at how you spend an average day and find ways to make the most out of all those precious moments.
Don’t Procrastinate
Procrastination is your own worst enemy when you’re trying to find time for yourself. Because spending a few hours alone will not be enough. The time you spend by yourself should feel meaningful in some way, so you truly feel like you’ve done something for yourself.
Perhaps it comes as no surprise that procrastination and depression tend to be associated. Of course, that’s not to say that procrastinating is necessarily a symptom of depression, or that one leads to another.
The point here is that procrastination tends to have a negative effect on one’s outlook and perspective. That means that if you do find time for yourself but spend it doing something that is unfulfilling, you’ll feel like that time didn’t even exist. Because what you need is time to focus on yourself, not just to be alone.
This also means that there are no simple solutions to this predicament. We all pursue different activities in different ways. And what we take from these activities is going to differ. For many, watching movies can be equivalent to procrastinating. For a movie buff, however, this activity can be immensely rewarding and genuinely enriching.
You should not avoid certain activities just because others deem them unimportant. Likewise, you should not pursue an activity just because most people believe it is valuable. If you feel like you are not deriving any benefits from it, then don’t it.
There are so many options out there, it would be impossible to try them all out. It would be a shame to waste time on something that you personally don’t find enjoyable or fulfilling when the whole point of finding time for yourself is focusing on you.
Set Boundaries
Setting clear boundaries between each area of life is going to provide with a set of guidelines that are going to help you feel more comfortable when you are taking some time away from work and love to spend it on yourself.
Often, people find it hard to focus on themselves because it feels so selfish. They will feel like they must neglect either work or love to do that. And nobody wants to be in that position.
When this happens, even if you find time to spare, you’re still not going to enjoy. You may even end up feeling guilty or lazy, or both.
Establishing a clear set of principles by which you divide your time is going to make you feel less selfish. You’ll be surprised to notice how much alone time you can muster in one day, if you stick to your principles and the boundaries you’ve established.
Finding time for yourself is an absolute must, even if you don’t think it is. It is a very personal need, and while we all have, the shape it takes is unique for each one of us. These methods are meant more as guidelines, but ultimately it is up to you to find the method that works best.