Spending Your Time Intentionally

The first 2 weeks of January I was relaxed, felt like I got so much accomplished, and had time for myself and my family.

It's now February and I feel overwhelmed, under appreciated, anxious, and miserable.

Why? I think I have over-scheduled myself. You see, I have this plague of an issue that makes me feel like if I just organize my time better, I can take on one more thing. Help one more person. Be a better me if..... does anyone else suffer from this affliction?

I'm finally at the point in my life that I am looking at where and how I spend my time, then making a conscious decision to spend my time intentionally. As a result, I am paring down my life.

The volunteer activities I choose to involve myself in will include aligning with organizations that I truly love, can use my talents, and I feel like I am making an active contribution to the betterment of the organization. I am also limiting my volunteer hours each month so that I am not putting off my family, my friends, my businesses, and my writing to be engaged in that activity.

In business, I will look for people to help and stop feeling like I am the only one who can perform certain functions. I will also stop over-thinking my decisions to ask for help and give the other person the opportunity to accept or reject the offer. My drive to be considerate of other people's time and circumstances, oftentimes gets in the way.

For my family, I will protect my girl's night time with my kiddos and actually block out that time in my schedule for them. I will plan a family-game night so we can begin having those "fun times". Might even teach the kids to be better poker players!

I will routinely set aside evenings that are just "me" nights where I treat myself to a night out to have fun and let off steam. And I will be more purposeful in inviting girl-friends out for a GNO so I can reconnect with them.

Most importantly, I will say "no thank you" to those things I am asked to do that fall outside of this plan and NOT feel guilty about it. That is the key to my success, because as a people pleaser I want to feel needed and wanted. I just need to learn that my life is very full and I am not living it on purpose by allowing other people, places, and things to find the chinks in my armor.

How about you? Are you spending your time intentionally or allowing others to spend it for you?