Recently, I was having a conversation with my good girlfriend from high school about how busy we both were.  We’re both in the middle of figuring out a career or business path, dealing with pressures from across society to get married and have 2.5 kids, and are just generally in reaction mode in figuring out our overall life plan.

I can definitely imagine that being a working mother, full time mother, or even empty nester feels even more overwhelming with other lives to think about.

But here’s the thing, whether the above situations apply to you or not, no matter what season we’re in, we will never have time for ourselves.  We need to make the time.

Life isn’t going to get easier and magical pockets of time are not going to pop up. It is up to us to make time for ourselves a priority.

How We Spend Our Time

I once heard someone say the truth, “where you invest your love and time, you invest your life.”  Obviously, we must love and invest in many pieces of life other than ourselves.  But we cannot give our whole selves unless we truly love ourselves, too.

There are absolutely, no matter who you are, things that you can de-prioritize in order to open up space to love yourself.  Skip the laundry for today in favor of 10 minutes for meditation.  Mail in the bills tomorrow and enjoy some time in the hot yoga studio.  Ask your neighbor for help in watching your children and actually attend your dentist appointment.

You’re worth the investment.

I promise you that you are worthy the emotional well-being, physical well-being, and true joy.  But it is up to YOU, and you alone, to make the time.

Our self-confidence and sense of self-worth are directly correlated our self-love.  Going on a diet, changing jobs, or moving houses is not going to make your life shift towards being a more confident person.  But building a strong relationship with your body and mind, lighting your emotional fire, and healing your heart will transform your life.

So how can we put this into action?  A few examples…

Practice good self care.  Get your annual checks.  Eat healthy food and be active.  Interact with others on a daily basis.  Be gentle with yourself when you can tell that your body truly needs some rest.

Live intentionally.  You don’t need to have a direct plan for every day of your life, but I do recommend that you set a general goal.  This can be as simple as “live a healthy life” or “enjoy everyday.”  Make it your goal to wholly live out that intention and you will reap the rewards.

And lastly, forgive easily.  This goes both for forgiving yourself and for forgiving others.  We have to accept that people are not perfect.  Let’s not forget entirely, but truly and honestly forgive with our whole hearts.

You will never get more time added to your day, and your life will always stay busy.  Make the time for you so that you can truly invest your whole self into the world.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

How can you practice more self-love across your life?

What are you going to give up or put off for tomorrow to allow yourself more “me” time?

Create a great life!