Searching for More "Me" Time: How To's for Busy Women

Okay, so you may be a Mom, a professional, a student or any combination therein. When you get busy, what’s the first thing to go out the window? Time just for you. That may be your hour at the gym, your coffee date with a friend or just relaxing at home with a book.

What’s the secret for preserving the real you and making sure you have some time with yourself each day? How do we make ourselves a priority when there are so many demands placed on us? As women, does society even want us to have me time? Maybe not! So what do we do?

TALK TO ME, LADIES! I want to hear your input on this very important topic!

Hi CoachJo. In a lot of ways, I am really blessed. I have a great family, great husband, work I love, and things are fine….but I am exhausted. There is always so much to do that I never prioritize time for me. I put myself on the back-burner so that I can attend to my never-ending stack of responsibilities. I know this isn’t good, that I need to have better life-work balance, but how do I do that?

Hi just you! So you’re looking to feel less tired. Me too!

What tends to energize you: spending times with friends, relaxing with a book, going for a walk?

The basics are sleep and eating well.

Sleep means AT LEAST six hours a night in a dark, quiet room. A room with a tv on . . . is not quiet. A room with an overhead light on . . . is not dark.

Eating well means three meals and two snacks at the very least. Eating every 2-3 hours keeps our blood sugar level within a comfortable range so we don’t feel out of whack. As Socrates said, “Let food be medicine, and let medicine be food.” Meaning, if we eat correctly, we will receive medicinal benefits of more energy, less body aches and the like.

Which of these areas (sleep and nutrition) do you feel you need to focus on first?

I think I can sleep ok, I just need to develop better habits, like going to bed earlier.

Really, I think my greatest challenge is putting myself first, taking care of myself, without feelig guily or getting distracted by work. What do you suggest?

I suggest finding out . . . whether by writing it down or just thinking on it here . . . what more “me” time looks like to you. It sounds to me like your number one issue is feeling tired. I’d recommend starting with the basics. As a one-week experiment, aim to get seven hours of sleep each night. If this makes you think of laying in bed eyes wide open staring blankly at the ceiling, don’t worry! Two tricks work:

1) Taking a bath or shower 30-45 mins before you plan to go to sleep. Something about raising our body temperature, and then bringing it back down as soon as we’re in bed is a great way to reach a deep sleep.

2) Bring a book to bed. Reading relaxes us and helps us relieve stress. When reading a good book (one that is not boring like the one I’m currently reading) you cannot think about the annoying thing a co-worker said, or the bills that need to be sorted through. You’re caught up in international espionage, steamy romance or fantastic voyages.

So get heated up, get a good book and get a good night’s sleep. Do you want to give this a try for a week?

Yes, that sounds great. I will try it tonite and report back. Thanks alot!