Having spent the majority of my younger years involved in some form of sports team or athletics program, the foundation of guilt for not working out had already been laid. Throughout my college and even into my adult, post college days, I had managed to bounce in and out of gyms and work out routines. I’d work out just enough to lose the water weight, then I’d fall right back into my old ways and the workout routines would fall back to the waysides.
It wasn’t until I had my daughter, and I started having to divide my time into two, and I realized just how much I had valued that hour or two a day sweating out my frustrations on the treadmill, or breathing out the bad and inhaling in the good, surrounded by a room of sweaty strangers. I realized that my need for “me time” wasn’t just something you read about in those girly magazines at the grocery store. It was a real thing, and my struggle had become very real.
Finding ways to incorporate your own form of me time is different for everyone. For me, me time could fall under an outing with the girls, a few hours at the gym sweating out my daily failures, or very simply enjoying a restroom break without having a whining six year old clawing at my sleeve like Sméagol reaching for his precious. Yes, it really happens. Me time has never sounded so good.
The most important part of any me time experience? Be there in that very moment. This may sound a bit crazy, but when you go to the gym or are taking time out to spend with your friends, put the cellphone away! Very simply, I have found that when the phones stay inside our pockets, the conversations are better, the experienced is remembered more and the time spent there became that much more valuable to me.
Second, enlist your friends in the fight! Schedule the time, put it in your calendar and make it as important as you standing Game of Thrones dates with HBO. Trust me, they created HBOGo for a reason… so you can GO and do more than just sit in front of your TV screen. Live a little. Khaleesi will understand.
Third, change a few daily habits to allow for you to become more of a priority. I learned to be a morning person. This was not an easy choice for me being as my entire life has always been between the hours of 9:00 pm and 3:00am. But learning to be an early riser has literally changed my life. Having realized that my creative juices flow in the early hours of the day, I used to try to stay awake to piggyback off of my peak hours. Instead, I have learned to just wake up at those times, which yes, requires me to get to bed a lot earlier than I normally had, but the alertness and creativity I experience after having just woken up from a full nights rest has won me over time and again.
Lastly, simplify things. Learn to say no, try not to overbook yourself, and remember that me time doesn’t have to be a big production. Just remember to find gratitude in all that you do. Even when you are hiding in that broom closet devouring the last chips ahoy cookie, knowing that you don’t have to share it with your kids.
For more tips on how to find your own Millennial Me Cave, check out the link below!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/shamakabani/2014/03/04/here-is-what-you-need-to-know-about-millennials/