We all lead busy lives.  Whether we are in school, working, or both.  Whether we have significant others who require our time, kids, moms and dads and other relatives.  Bosses who are less than understanding.  There ALWAYS seems to be a reason to put ourselves, our needs and our priorities at the end of that very long list.

I don’t have time to________________________.  YOU fill in the blank.  Is it cooking, exercising, drinking your water, taking your vitamins, making a doctor’s appointment, making your lunch, eating breakfast, preparing dinner, relaxing - or is it all or most of the above? 

Has this been what is keeping you from reaching your goals, your vision of success and getting healthy in mind, body and spirit?  Did I hear a yes?

Guess what?  Those are all the excuses we use to NOT do something for ourselves.  Let’s chat about the difference between reasons and excuses…  I’ll go to Webster’s first:

Reason:  a cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event

Excuse:  an explanation or a reason for an action

So you see reasons and excuses are the same thing.

What is happening inside my brain when I say I don’t have the time to prepare my lunch is that I am justifying why I don’t do it.  I wonder how much time I have spent justifying it, or reading the morning paper, or catching up on Facebook, or reading my work emails, or sitting and watching the news and weather.  What might happen if I just spent a few minutes and put my lunch together to bring to work/school with me?  Hmmm might I avoid the fast food and/or vending machine trap?  Perhaps after I ate my lunch I would have a few minutes left to walk around the building, or up and down the stairs instead of waiting in line at the drive through, cafeteria, or wherever else lunch might be happening if I don’t bring it with me?

How about your vitamins?  That’s another one - I don’t have time throughout the day to take them as I should so I just don’t take them.  Another story I have heard many times.  What if one day a week you put all your vitamins together for the week in a pill case, separated by day and then spent another few minutes setting alarms on your smart phone.  Hmm, might that be a time saver, life saver, and reminder all in one sitting?  Or, do you prefer to have to go to the doctor’s for that Vitamin B12 shot or worse yet, the hospital for those iron infusions.  What’s the least amount of time and energy output for the best result?  We all want that BANG for the BUCK, right?

Those are two examples of not having enough time for the “have tos” - the basic rules after weight loss surgery that all of our docs have given us.  There is much more to this though.

Yes, when we figure out how to time manage our lives to fit in all of the rules, that is great.  We are doing wonderful things to and for our bodies, and our long term health.

There is more though, much more to this journey to health than just following the rules.  It is important to acknowledge and take care of yourself DAILY so that you are feeding your body, mind and spirit.  How do you do that?  Create a space just for YOU in every day.  Just like with everything else you are learning to create as new habits, doing this consistently is important to the process.  It’s your time to LOVE, HONOR and RESPECT yourself.  How you do it is up to you and it may vary each day.  You are all wonderful employees, great moms and dads, super sisters and brothers, outstanding grandparents and aunts and uncles, the best friends ever.  Your awesomeness shines daily in all of these areas.  How about as just you?  What have you done just for YOU today?

Don’t have the time to take care of YOU?  I beg to differ.  I bet if you spent a moment thinking about it, or maybe even 5 minutes thinking about it with your mind cleared of everything else you might just figure out when and how you could carve out that little bit of time - begin with 15 minutes if that’s all you can find, but find it, carve it out and repeat it each day.  Is it just when you wake up?  Is it just before you go to bed?  Is it when you get home from work or school?  Is it just after the kids are in bed and the house is quiet?  Is it after lunch, before you get back to the next conference call?  I know, and you know, the time is there.  I promise you the benefits to taking the time are there as well.

What are you going to do with this time - this 15 minutes, this half hour or however long you can just be YOU - uninterrupted?  That is your decision.  Make it something that has you feeling good about yourself.  Here are a few suggestions, the sky and your imagination are the only limits:

• A cup of tea and a chapter in a book you’ve wanted to read;
• A walk in the park or around your block to stop and smell the flowers, see the sky and listen to the birds;
• A short meditation, either guided, with music, or just the quiet
• A hot bath, perhaps with candles and music
• A few minutes of stretching and breathing
• Dancing to your favorite song
• Singing out loud
• Shopping for a new _______
• Getting a manicure or pedicure or both
• Getting a facial
• Getting a massage
• Buying or picking flowers and arranging them in a vase
• A walk on the beach

I could go on and on.  The one sure thing is that you get to be YOU and relax, and not be responsible for anyone but YOU for a few minutes every day.

What might happen then?  Think about it.  You are worth the self love and the self care.