One’s birthday is a good time to take stock of various things in your life, don’t you think? I do. So today—my birthday–I’m taking stock on my wellness. Spoiler alert: I’m not attempting to take stock on all aspects of the far-reaching, multi-pronged topic of wellness. Just on one aspect for today, but it’s an important aspect.
Firstly, to credentialize myself a bit regarding wellness, my own mental and physical wellness has always been pretty good. However, I’ve noticed it’s gone up a notch or two since my birthday a year ago. I attribute this to two things: 1. shedding those 15 lbs that crept on during Covid and 2. the fact that I’m feeling professionally re-energized thanks to starting to a new job a few months back. More on those aspects of wellness—weight loss and job satisfaction—another day!
The aspect of wellness that I want to highlight today is the importance of making time for yourself—time on your own to do things that give you peace of mind, be they a bit indulgent—like finally getting around to watching Schitt’s Creek on Netflix—or utilitarian—like ordering a new bathmat on Amazon. This time alone to get things ticked off your list is crucial to one’s wellbeing.
It’s important to feel your life is somewhat in order. You don’t want a growing list of “to do’s” to pile up on your shoulders and weigh you down. Feeling in control of things—as best you can—helps keep that ugly monster, negative stress, at bay. There may be positive forms of stress in life but feeling overwhelmed and burdened with an endless list “to do’s” is not a positive form of stress!
To make this time, I claim the early hours of the day as mine. For me. Alone. I claim from 6:30 to about 8:30 am during the week and 8:00 to 10:00 am on weekends. I use the first hour to do things I want to do (study French or reply to a friend’s email) or that I need to do (online banking, update my personal calendar, glance at the headlines, or yes, order a new bathmat, etc.) Getting these things done makes me feel that my “to do” list is kept relatively short, that it’s not piling up on my shoulders and that life is relatively under control. This is part of taking care of my mental wellbeing.
The second hour is for my physical wellbeing. I like to get outside for a brisk 50-60 minute walk regardless of the temperature. Only rain or ice deters me. I walk alone and briskly so I’m getting some decent exercise and later feel a sense of accomplishment as I look at my daily steps. I find it refreshing mentally and good physically to take these walks. I smile at fellow walkers and their often adorable dogs, I admire the real estate eye candy in the neighborhoods I march through and I breathe deeply while enjoying the peace and beauty of my local ravine.
So for me, there are many mental and physical benefits of claiming two hours a day for myself. There are many things one could do with these two hours. I feel like I use the time well and this helps maintain my wellness. How about you? Do you claim time for yourself each day? What do you do with the time and what are the benefits you get from that? Would love to hear from you in the comments section below.
