Me Time

For many people ‘taking me time’ brings to mind spas, luxury, somehow an image of being pampered. However, I do not agree with this, or sometimes it is being pampered, but most of the time it is taking care of your to do list and getting stuff done. It is finding the time to let your brain think, alone, in peace.

I am writing this, during a me time session. So what does a me time look like to me? Usually I manage to get this precious time, if I manage to wake up a couple of hours before everyone. It is the time, where it feels that the whole world is still sleeping and I am here awake with my cat and I can dedicate my self to the luxuries of the mind, which is to think and to let the brain wonder. For me writing this is a kind of brain wonder, I often start writing with only a word in mind and then I let my brain reveal itself through writing. And I just realized how false the idea of 'Me Time' is nowadays.

Think about it, would you be able to relax, if you knew you had taxes due tomorrow? Or is it really me time if you are getting a massage instead of scheduling an appointment with your doctor to get that weird symptom checked out? Or in my case, is it really Me Time to spend hours in the bath tub with candles and soap, while my brain is racing to find an outlet to what it has ongoing? I think not. Don’t get me wrong, there were times, where all I needed is pampering, and when I managed to take the time to just do that, it always felt that the world will break … but then it didn’t and one could just let go.

However, most of the time it is just me with a to do list and going through it, or I clear everything and let only 1 thing on my list, a thing that I was avoiding. Or most importantly, it is making time to something which is important to me but not urgent. So I know that once everyone else wakes up, there will be no room left to it, because my other responsibilities will take over. Think about it, when was the last time you wrote something? or read something? or painted something? or simply put created something which was living in your mind formless, and then you gave it physical form? I think we underestimate how little time we dedicate for this.

So next time you are planning some me time, try something along these lines instead of an instagramable trip somewhere. Feel what your body would like to do, that hasn’t gotten the time to do in a long time. Go to dance, or write, or paint, or do music… most importantly, give yourself the space to think and let your mind expand and contract in whichever way or form it wants, because in this day and age, letting ourselves think and our brains to wonder in mental meadows, is the rarest of them all.