How To Find Time For Yourself

How To Find Time For Yourself

Want More Life Satisfaction? Find Time For What You Truly Want To Do

How many times have you thought about something you’d like to do and, before you even fully examine the idea of adding such an activity to your life, reminded yourself that you don’t have time for it? Many of us spend so much time doing what we feel we must do, that we don’t have enough time for what we would love to do. The feeling of not having enough freedom to pursue quality time with our families, revitalizing solitary activities, or other things that would nurture us can leave us feeling stressed and unhappy.




If you would like to increase your level of happiness and life satisfaction this year, one of the best changes you can make is to find more time in your schedule for a life that reflects what you’d really like to be doing. These steps can help.

De-clutter Your Schedule

Take a hard look at how you spend your days, and see what can be cut. Are you watching several hours of t.v. per day? Could you be more efficient at work? Are there things in your schedule that could be dropped without serious ramifications? Carving out a little time here and there can add up to a greater feeling of personal freedom to do what you’d really enjoy. There are probably some things in your schedule that can be taken out without serious consequences, and perhaps others that you won’t even miss.

Learn to Delegate

Are there responsibilities that you have at home or at work that could be delegated to assistants, family members, or others?

Re-assigning cleaning responsibilities to children, for example, can free up time normally spend on housework and foster a sense of responsibility in your kids at the same time. Even hiring help, when it makes sense, can be a good idea. It’s not always easy to delegate, but when you figure out what can be “outsourced” and to whom, it is a great way to free up time, and can be helpful for your helpers as well.(Getting the rest of the family involved with busy-mom responsibilities can teach independence, increase their feelings of self-efficacy, and bring the family closer together.)

Learn to say “no”

Before you take on any new responsibilities, carefully think about how these activities would impact your life, both in a positive way and negatively. Think also about your motivations for possibly saying “yes”: do you just want to avoid feeling like you’re letting someone else down? Do you tend to convince yourself that you have limitless time in your schedule, and find yourself with time for everyone else but you? It sometimes feels selfish to say no to things that others would like us to do, and often people don’t make it easy, but if you’re stretching yourself so thin that you can’t say yes to your own peace of mind, you’re stretching yourself too thin to be as helpful to others as you can. Saying no to some things allows you to say yes to what really matters.

Source verywell.com