How Important Are You?

Though I don't work, all the therapy appointments and things that I need to do (on a daily and weekly basis) in order to keep my body and mind functioning, is equivalent to a full time job . Over the past 5 years I have been so determined to get better that I've forgotten about ME. At times going from one therapy appointment to the next without stopping for proper healthy meals  ~ the focus has been on getting all the appointments in before the day's energy supply is exhausted. Sometimes by the time I get home all I want is to lay down, not move and the thought of eating is far from my thoughts ~ partially because it will be tomorrow before I remember that I really didn't eat. When did I become so unimportant?

Some of you may be saying/thinking "your therapy and things to keep your body and mind going are for you!"  Yes, you are correct but just like when I was working in the corporate world,  so I could enjoy my high  heeled life ~ the mind and body still needed time to renew, heal and create reserves of energy and peace. Something that even with all the long hours I still managed to do, back then.

"So what's different" you ask? 

Well, much like women with many roles and responsibilities ~ wife, parent, sibling, child, friend and career worker spending their days catering to the needs of others at the expense of their own well being. I have come to realize on this road to recovery that I have let others dictate appointments, sessions and activities according to what works best for them, and not what is best for me.  Too caught up in the Doing ~worried how a long time between appointments would look; not wanting to be labeled as difficult or not-interested in getting better, I forgot how to be. I fell prey to NOT BEING IMPORTANT, after all everyone else was scheduling according to what was best for them.

Does some of the above (perhaps for different reasons) sound familiar? Do you feel frustrated, tired, overwhelmed and a bit off balance? Well it's time to take back your life!

Here are some of my ideas for ME TIME? 

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day 

that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein. ~ H. Jackson Brown

20 minutes.... (even if you start with one day a week ...and gradually add a day)

Start reading that book that has been staring at you from your night table, since Christmas 2005....

Tune the world out with a relaxing warm bath ...  a head set will help keep outside noise away

(for those with small children or hubbies who always can't find something - LOCK THE DOOR)

Just sit and enjoy a cup of tea or your favorite warm soothing beverage

Write in your journal ... goals, plans, just write

Meditate ... using soft music or a CD with directed meditation

Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, 

you will not do anything with it. ~ M. Scott Peck

I would love for you to share how you make ME TIME and 

some of the things you do with that time!!