Let’s face it: we’re overworked.
Nowadays, it seems like we’re working more and longer hours than ever. In fact, nearly half a million people were working more than one full time job in June of this year. From full-time jobs, to part-time jobs, to side hustles, many are breaking their backs to make ends meet, nevermind finding time to chase their dreams. With school in full swing and the quickly approaching holiday season, those with family obligations are finding themselves busier than ever. It’s hard to find time to meet up for a family visit or to help the kids with homework with such an incredibly hectic schedule.
Things get even more difficult if you want to maintain any sort of social life. When you’re always busy, grabbing a drink with friends is usually the first to go. And if your schedules do finally line up, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for something to come up and ruin your plans.
So, how can you re-energize after a long day that doesn’t leave room for much of anything else? How can you find time to be alone? How do you reclaim your time?
Well, California Representative, Maxine Waters, gave us the answer back in 2017 when she refused to have her question overlooked by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Be purposeful. Be intentional. Be fearless.
Reclaiming your time doesn’t mean letting everything around you descend into chaos. It means setting aside some time in your day for things to be all about you. It means detaching from social media, work, and anything else that can cause stress - and being present.
Here are five ways to reclaim your time.
Meditation
The use of meditation has been on the rise for the past several years, thanks to the number of people that have taken part due to their affinity for spirituality. According to the National Institutes of Health, meditation has the ability to decrease physical pain and high blood pressure while improving experiences with stress, anxiety, and depression. Purposefully sitting alone with your thoughts can provide incredible clarity. You can meditate by completely clearing your mind or even by focusing on something extremely specific. There are even guided meditations that can make things easier if you’re still figuring out your meditative practice. Check out our guided meditation.
Art
You don’t have to be Bob Ross or Basquiat to discover all of the therapeutic aspects of art. The main benefit of therapeutic art is learning to translate self-expression into an entirely new medium. You use words to express yourself several times a day, but learning to see yourself reflected in a piece of visual art is foreign to many of us. Find yourself a stretched canvas, a thick piece of paper or an app like procreate and create something using the colors you’re drawn to. Don’t worry about whether it looks good or not, just focus on how you feel and bringing those feelings alive in front of you.
Reading
Cracking open a book is a great way to spend some alone time. Not only can it help reduce stress, it encourages us to use our imagination by creating new worlds for us to get lost in. Depending on your genre of choice, reading can also help you learn a new skill. Find a book that you really like and try to read a chapter a day and listening to an audiobook while doing something else doesn’t count!
Journaling
Journaling is a great way to be more in tune with your emotions and thoughts. According to the University of Rochester, journaling can help you prioritize your issues, track and control daily triggers, and provides an opportunity for you to talk positively about yourself. It’s easy to overthink any sort of writing, so it's important not to overcomplicate your journaling practice. Make it simple and keep it that way. Sometimes journaling means reflecting on the best/worst part of your day. Sometimes you just write down something so that you don’t forget it later. Remember that journaling is whatever you want it to be. Check out different journals here
Relaxing
That’s right. I’m advising that you do nothing. Many of us place such value on work that we immediately equate relaxation with laziness, but relaxing is important. Relaxation can help you re-energize and encourage better sleep patterns. Queue up a few YouTube videos or a couple of episodes of your favorite low-stakes sitcom (Martin is my go-to). Whether you take your break in your bed or in the bathroom because it's the only place you can be alone, make time to relax.
