We Can Make More Time

I’m seeing now that lack of time is really only a self-limiting belief.

I’m starting to see more and more in my life that I do indeed have the choice as to how much time I have in a single day. I used to get overwhelmed with the number of tasks I needed to do; and still I catch myself coming to those feelings. But, I noticed my beliefs changing when I started realizing that my day could be filled with all sorts of things, without the thoughts of “ahhhh! I have too many things to do, and not enough time, and how am I ever going to have time for myself.”

(This is a recent revelation by the way), so I know I still have a way to go.

Do you suffer symptoms of being stressed for time? Maybe I can help guide you through what I think I went through to get to my feelings of calmness. I say “what I think I went through” because it would be highly inaccurate for me to assume that I can remember exactly what the process was for me to get to exactly where I am right now. But, let me try and maybe you’ll find a few gems that can help you.

It might help you to know a bit about my personality and that I try really hard to make thing e ‘just so.’ I can be patient with other people’s wanting things a certain way: I can be flexible. The thing that I try to do is be ‘just so’ for myself. I want to do the best I can in school, in my relationship, in parenting, in work, in every interaction I have with people, in what I make my son for lunch, in how I walk, in …Well, pretty much every moment that I’m with myself, I want to be my best person. Maybe I’m neurotic. I don’t know.

I don’t so much like the term ‘perfectionist’- it sounds like a bad thing, as though trying to do good in one’s life is a problem. I don’t feel like I am being a problem for myself. If anything, I am proud of myself when I have accomplished what I know I am capable of accomplishing.

I suppose there is a problem that arises when I feel that I haven’t been able to live up to my own standards. Is that the way with everyone, I wonder? I don’t think my standards are actually high enough for what a human being is capable of, so I keep raising the bar. Sometimes it’s beneficial.

Ahhh! I am typing outside in a field right now, and a spider just landed in my hair.

Phew- got it out!!

Wow, I really feel like I am ramping up to something here…

I think what is helping me to not feel stressed about time is actually using the time I do have (because we all do have some free time if we let ourselves have it) to do the things that inspire me to keep living life. What does living life mean to you?

To me, living life does not mean doing all the things you HAVE TO DO in order to maintain the hectic schedule of living in the world we live in today: commuting, making lunches, doing laundry, punching into your job (unless you absolutely love being at work), grocery shopping, etc.

What I’ve been figuring out is that “the dishes can wait” if it means I get more time to enjoy my life. My husband has been telling me this for nearly a decade, but it’s taken me until today to fully understand what he meant. Thankfully I have a husband who does not have unmanageable expectations of me.

But even if you don’t have that kind of partner (or no partner), once you start spending more time doing the things that make you happy, you will find that people don’t demand more from you; instead people want to help you do more of the things you love. They also become inspired by your love for life and they start to enjoy their lives more as well. It’s important to recognize what your needs are, and then to articulate them to yourself and to the people who love you.