Life has seemed insanely busy and crazy lately. (I feel like I say that a lot.) Well, I guess I should amend that statement. Work has been insanely busy lately, which has made my life (or lack thereof) crazy. Based on opening dates for our neighborhood pool and deadlines to get budgets and budget amendments done, I’m anticipating another 2 weeks of massive craziness in the workload and probably another 2 weeks of semi-craziness and then hopefully things should settle back down to normal crazy levels.
Crazy work life means I’ve let my exercise schedule slip. It means my already poor eating habits have gotten worse. Getting home late means I don’t want to take the time to cook something. I either grab some fast food (unexpensive and generally unhealthy) or I end up eating a bowl of cereal.
Working late means I get home and plop down on the couch exhausted and talk myself out of changing clothes and heading to the gym. I forced myself to the gym Wednesday night because I realized it had been almost 3 weeks since I’d been. Can’t blame all of that on work though. I opted not to renew my personal training sessions because they were going up in price and they were already an expensive luxury. Much harder to motivate yourself when you don’t have a kick-ass trainer expecting you to show up.
Avoiding Burn Out
Life gets busy for us all at times. It might be a demanding job, it might be a season of life where your kids are very active, it might be dealing with a sick family member. Doesn’t really matter what the situation is, it’s vital to find a pocket of time for yourself before you get to the overwhelm stage. Getting burned out can lead to job dissatisfaction, a bad attitude, and even illness. Most of us can find some time for ourselves if we look hard enough, and if you can’t then it’s most likely even more important to make it a mission to do so. Turn off the tv, put away the tik tok videos, find a relative or friend to take over for you for an hour…find the time.
Me Time
This past Friday was my day off and although deadlines required me to work quite a bit this weekend, I decided Friday I was dedicating to myself. What did that entail?
Slept in an extra 2 hours
Gym workout
Lunch with my mom and aunt
a trip to Marshalls (just window shopping)
Barnes and Noble trip, complete with a Chai creme Frappucino (going to have to reload that gift card soon)
Book club with my girls!
Other Simple and Mostly Frugal Pleasures
- Read a book-I currently have 7 books out from the library, one borrowed from my mom, and my newest Bella Grace magazine, which is more like a book then a magazine.
- Visit the bookstore-I love to browse and write at mine
- See a movie-not super cheap anymore but in my city you can catch the first viewing of the day or anytime on Tuesday for a much cheaper ticket
- sit by a campfire with friends
- visit a coffee shop and write or visit with a friend
- get dessert with a friend
- go for a walk
- have some pool time (I’m lucky and have a pool at my condo)
- go to the gym for a work out
- take a walk
- Binge a great new series-I currently recommend Firefly Lane and The Diplomat
Making time for yourself doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Simple really is best sometimes. The list above are just a few ways I “spoil” myself when I have some time to do so. Your list might be different. Some people love to garden (not me, that’s why I have a condo, lol) or bake. My youngest son likes to run. My oldest son has game nights with friends online a couple times a week.
What’s on your list??
