March 8, 2022: Etching Out "Me" Time
It seems harder and harder to etch out any "me" time these days. I like to joke that I wake up on Monday, have lunch on Wednesday, and before I know it, dinnertime arrives on Friday. When I look back on all I've accomplished during the week, sometimes I wonder if I did anything of value at all other than run errands, show up for appointments, and manage the day-to-day hustle we all encounter.
Women of the 1950s spent 57 hours a week keeping house, according to an article in Good Housekeeping magazine. (That's eight hours a day, folks!) No wonder I bemoan lingering dust on the living room ceiling light, missed spill spots on my kitchen floor, and cobwebs behind the downstairs toilet. Who has eight hours a day—every day—to devote to cleaning? And, if I amend any of those dirty issues, four more crop up in their place. (Always inevitable: death, taxes, and dust bunnies.)
I have faded recollections of spending an entire day to myself where I might cross-stitch a project, knit a baby sweater, write in my journal, or read an entire book. (This all may sound a bit sexist, but I find my husband struggles to find his "me" time too.) When did we all get so busy? So distracted? Is staring into the illumination of a handheld device improving our self-worth, our lifestyle, our soul's purpose? (I'm pretty sure it isn't, yet I'm guilty of it.)
Nowadays, I eke out "me" time wherever I can, be it the quiet pre-dawn hours before hubby gets up, a stolen afternoon with no one else around, or a late-night "I'll be up to bed in awhile" excuse. More and more, I beg off of invitations from friends, I'd rather have the "me" time. (Is that wrong?) I even cut my hair short because I wanted that 30-40 minutes of primping time for other things.
I make an effort to find these little niches of time because they are important. They allow me to find and be me. If you've read my books, you know how strongly I believe in answering those "me" delights of the heart. They lead us to better and more satisfying things in life.
What did you do with your "me" time this week? Did you even have any? I read a couple of books (something I can do even with the cat on my lap or sports on tv). I fixed some old bracelets that were falling apart. I wrote in my journal, pulled some tarot cards for the week, and wrote some thank you notes to old friends who took time to write me. I did clean that spot on the floor, dusted, and scrubbed the bathroom (maybe not all of the cobwebs), though I'm pretty sure the eight-hour days of housekeeping are long gone.
I can't always plan my "me" time. Life drags me forward at its own pace. Rather, I have to lasso and wrangle it whenever and wherever I can. How do you find time for yourself? Hit "reply" and let me know what "me" time means for you.