4 Ways to Protect Your Time and Your Mental Health
Credit: Milan Popovic | @itsmiki5
Triggered by a coworker? Overwhelmed by loads of laundry piling up? Irritated by that little toddler shadowing your every move? Me too. Being a mom and wife while working a full-time job is no joke. It requires the constant juggle of multiple full-time jobs. So, it's no wonder most of us find ourselves spread thin and running on fumes.
With so much on our plate, our "me-time" is always at risk of being derailed. While we all know the mental health benefits of yoga, journaling, meditating, coffee with a friend, or a nice soak in the tub, there is still a distinct disconnect between self-care and its' positive effect on our emotional and mental resilience. Not to mention the guilt we feel when we do take time for ourselves. So, we often find ourselves in the cycle of feeling burnt out and agitated, struggling to create time for much-needed self-care.
It's time we become strategic with our self-care because our mental health is at risk. By protecting our energy and defending "me-time," we create a more energetically balanced day, resulting in a happier, calmer version of ourselves. There are four steps to doing this: observing, analyzing, assessing, and planning.
Step 1: Observe
The first step is to observe your day-to-day encounters. You will need something to write with and a planner. Start with a typical Monday and observe everything from the first thing in the morning until you crawl into bed at night. Be attentive and take note of emotions that surface after every activity, event, interaction, etc., throughout your day.
For example, let's say every Monday morning you have a staff meeting with your colleagues. Ask yourself the following questions. How do you feel BEFORE this meeting? How did you feel DURING this meeting? How do you feel AFTER? I know this seems redundant but trust me if you can pinpoint the things, people, and situations that drain your energy, then you can really put an effective strategy in place.
Step 2: Analyze
The second step is to analyze the encounters that drain your energy and time. Below are three examples:
1. Energy Vampire- anyone that sucks the life out of you, leaving you feeling completely depleted (e.g., a girlfriend that calls you every day to emotionally dump all of her drama onto you).
2. Boundary Breaker- anyone that does not respect your physical and or mental boundaries (e.g., as a mom, you most likely value your time and are triggered when this is taken from you. Now let's say a colleague of yours loves to schedule unproductive meetings; this would be an example of someone disrespecting one of your boundaries.)
3. Distraction- a distraction is anything that interferes with the productivity of your day (e.g., mindlessly scrolling social media).
Now it's time to refer back to your planner and to analyze your observations. During this analysis, if you notice something during your day that is counterproductive to your mental health and does not HAVE to be there (e.g., talking to your mom every single morning), it's time to consider setting healthy boundaries to preserve your mental health.
Step 3: Assess
Step three is assessing your analysis. Determine self-care tools that can potentially help you offset the stress and obstacles you face during your day. This can be anything you find that helps you unwind, so feel free to think outside the stereotypical "self-care box" here. Whether it's listening to a podcast, having a cup of coffee, boxing class, yin yoga, a short nap, or meditation. Think through how those various self-care acts make you feel and how much time it takes to notice when you are satisfied. Below are a three personal examples to help get you started:
Power yoga- taking a power yoga class takes 30 minutes and makes me feel confident and energized.
Self-development podcasts- listening to a podcast can take anywhere from 5- 30 minutes and helps validate my emotions.
Hot shower- taking a hot shower takes about 10 minutes and helps reset, calm my nerves, and relax my body.
Step 4: Plan
The last step is to connect the dots and plan a productive and happy day. We must first identify the windows of opportunity for "me-time," even if it's only 5 minutes between meetings. Once all available free time is identified, we must then carefully plug the appropriate self-care in place.
Juggling the demands of modern-day motherhood can be overwhelming, but with a bit of strategy and planning, we can lighten our mental loads. It is possible for us to protect our energy and defend our me-time.
Pro Tip: As a Trunk Studios member, I highly recommend using their playlist tool to create a daily playlist. My playlists typically include a guided meditation, workout, and breathing exercises for each day.
