We all know the people that care so deeply for others they drown in responsibilities and Hallmark cards and get stressed out because they don't take time for themselves. There are also people in the other extreme of being selfish and not really caring about anyone but themselves. But how do you strike the delicate balance of being a kind and caring individual but never forgetting to love and care for yourself?
Spoil yourself after a long day. Spent the day working extra hard, attending parties or events for others, etc? Once your long day is over, take time to do what you want to do. It could be simply vegging out with your favorite show and some ice cream, taking a long bath, get a mani/pedi, whatever chills you out and makes you feel relaxed!
Choose friends wisely and make them feel loved! Having tons and tons of friends can be fun, but it would be exhausting to keep up with all of them. Find some positive and amazing people to share your free time with and take the time to maintain your friendships. Call, text, make plans, give homemade gifts, and make sure your friends know you care!
Schedule your time. It can be hard to balance work, relationships, friendships, family, obligations, and not to mention time for yourself! Organize your life to keep track of work deadlines, appointments, coffee dates with friends, and even schedule things like a shopping trip to treat yourself.
Don't forget about your family. It can be easy to find time to spend with friends and forget how important seeing your family is. With everyone's busy schedules, often families get together only on holidays. Make a surprise visit to see relatives - it might just make their day!
What do you do to strike the delicate balance between caring for yourself and others?
And don't it make you sad to know that life Is more than who we are You grew up way too fast And now there's nothing to believe And reruns all become our history A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio And I won't tell no one your name
That song is called "Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls. I have always found it beautiful, especially those few lines. It seems to be one of those things that are sad, but true.
And don't it make you sad to know that life is more than who we are?
If you think about it, life really should be about who we are. Who we are = what we do, how we act, who we love, everything about us. But often, don't we find, that who we are simply isn't enough for people? Who we are can equal just about every facet of our life but society constantly wants to focus on who they think we should be. Instead of loving all those freckles, aren't we constantly bombarded with new make-up products that help us banish anything that makes us stand out? Us girls, we conceal, pluck, wax, paint, exfoliate, tan... just about every part of our bodies. Most all of us are guilty of it. I know I am. Why isn't it good enough to look the way we normally look without working so hard to look like everybody else? Not saying make-up isn't fun or that we should skip the showers and go grunge, but maybe next time we let the real us shine through. For the rest of us... don't we let the jobs we have, the hobbies we love, or the people we associate define us? Have we lost who we truly are? All of these things help make up our personalities... but when do we draw the line? Life shouldn't be about the money we make, the things we do, it should be about the people we are deep down underneath it all.
You grew up way too fast
Growing up way too fast. We all know a little something about that. On one hand, I look at all the kids I used to babysit and gasp at the fact some are approaching high school and some middle school... weren't they just little kids playing tag with me yesterday? Growing up too fast isn't just about how quickly time seems to fly. It is about us making ourselves grow up too fast. Remember being a kid and willing time to move faster... so it could be time to drive, wear makeup, date, have your curfew moved up, be an adult? I'm still considered a teenager but in a few months I can be considered an adult as well. Sometimes I still will myself to grow up, thinking of my life in the future and sometimes it scares me and I want to slow down. I take extra classes to graduate quicker yet think what am I going to do when I actually graduate?! We will eventually go through most of life's passages of time... isn't it about time to slow down and enjoy the age you are?
And now there's nothing to believe And reruns all become our history A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio And I won't tell no one your name
This song is actually pretty depressing even in it's simply beauty. Sometimes growing up too fast can lead people to find they have nothing to believe in. The shows we anticipate quickly become reruns. We can gauge time by the popular show of that year or decade. Songs play over and over until we clamp our ears when they blast through our radios.
So what do you think about when you hear this song?
Time. I am writing this as I'm listening to a time management lecture by Randy Pausch, the guy who essentially wrote "The Last Lecture" (Jeff Zaslow really wrote it, but it was based on the lecture by Randy Pausch). Great book... I definitely recommend it. Anyways, time. Time is ticking by right now. Sometimes it goes by so fast and sometimes it feels so slow. Why is that?
I also love the book Stargirl and Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. In Stargirl, there is this quote that always stuck with me...
“Nobody has the time. The time cannot be owned. Time is free to everyone!”
(While looking for this quote, I came across this blog which I found really interesting. Check it out as I will later....)
If you really think about it, time is the one thing we have that is always free. Always there. Never stops and always keeps going. Whether you want it to go slower, or faster, need more... it remains the same. At the same time, we don't know how much of it we will have in our lives. Even if you receive a death sentence, a doctor cannot tell you the specific day in which you will die and your time here will cease.
Here are the most important things in life I think we need to remember related to time:
Get organized. Okay, okay, I do work at a place called Organize-It, I've compulsively made my bed every day since I was 5 years old, and everyone knows how neat I am. But still, I think it is important to everyone. Think about a time when you couldn't do something because you couldn't find it. I strongly believe you will get a lot more work done if you just take the time to put things in order first.
Get the bad stuff done before you can get on to the fun. Okay, I am definitely bad at this one sometimes. Jot down a to-do list and get done that dreaded homework, head off to work, or clean your room before you can go out and do the thing you want to do. Guarantee you might have more time to do the thing you like if you get the other stuff done first.
Think about what you're doing right now. Surfing the web mindlessly? Watching TV? Anything else you could be doing that would be more productive or more satisfying? I strongly believe you need your downtime to do nothing and chill out, but I know I spend more time doing those things than I really need to.
Don't waste time being angry. Get angry, yell, cry, fight, and get over it. I think a lot of people waste time being mad at someone they love for stupid reasons. Argue and fix it. Spend lots of loving time with the people you love. You don't know how long you might have with them.
"Failing to plan is planning to fail." Plan your day, plan your life, and plan to leave room for days or minutes when you have nothing at all planned to do.
I'll end on a quote by the late, great Benjamin Franklin.
"Dost thou love life? Then waste not time; for time is the stuff that life is made of."
