In this day and age it seems we are all too busy, running around, doing stuff, keeping up with everything and we barely have time to eat and sleep. I find coming from growing up an only child, with too much time on my own, that I sometimes miss that time where I could just sit, think about nothing much and just recharge my mental batteries.
I can’t think of the last time I had time to be alone and reflect on life, meditate or just be on my own without anyone around and things to get done. It just doesn’t happen an awful lot for most people I would imagine.
I think it’s very important to make the time for this. We all need time alone; we need time with our thoughts. In my case, unfortunately that time usually comes when I go to bed at night exhausted but then can’t sleep because I have a million things going through my mind that I never get time to address or deal with during the day. So then comes the annoyance of insomnia that haunts me more than usual lately. I do have things on my mind but it’s not like they are major or huge significant things… just stuff that I’ve forgotten to think about or take care of during the day, it all comes flooding into my mind as soon as I lay down my head to sleep at night! This is the worst possible time for this stuff to come into my mind, when all I want to do is sleep!
I think that one way to solve all this is to find the time, even if it’s not every day, but at some point during the week, to sit down and let all the stuff go through your mind. Then address each issue as it comes, make plans, organise things, write things down (this does help for me, if I put stuff down in writing it makes more sense and is a lot more structured than random thoughts going nowhere in my mind). I have done this a few times but the problem remains, where do we find the time? We all have busy lifestyles, work, kids, social lives, maintaining a household, maintaining relationships with family and friends, keeping up with everything that needs to get done and the list goes on. For me, sometimes I find a window of opportunity for this rare thing called “me time”. When I know I have a free weekend coming up where I will be on my own, with no commitments or nothing planned that I need to do without fail, I make sure I slot this time in for me, and me only.
It might sound very unsocial or very selfish or maybe it’s just not considered nice to be a hermit, turn off the phone and not return calls. However, I need it. If I don’t get that time (it can be from a couple of hours to a day maximum, I don’t think I’ve managed 2 whole days to date though!) I really start to get a bit stressed. Once I get that time in, got the stuff dealt with or organised or at least addressed things that have been on my mind for ages I feel a whole lot better. And sometimes I just need to zone out and watch trash TV or read a book or just meditate for an hour and all is good. It’s amazing what some peace, solitude and stillness can do for our minds and our general well-being.
The problem is that I plan this time quite often, but sadly it rarely happens. I’ve had times where I’ve planned out my whole “me time” weekend only to have things that come up where I have to go out or have people over or drive somewhere or do chores that need to be done and so on. But it’s worth the effort in my opinion because I can safely say that it keeps me sane and gives me back some energy and the power to get on with life and all its challenges.
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