‘Busy’. It’s a word that’s been mentioned a lot around the blogging community recently. In our generation, we’re known as ‘busy’ people. During the last few weeks alone, I’ve seen many bloggers writing about the glorification of busy. How there's always something that needs to be done, and being intentional with our time. Something that's always noted is knowing we shouldn't be so busy that we have less time for ourselves. But that right there is the problem.

We spend so much time working. I don’t just mean your day job. You work on your side projects and your hobbies. You work on keeping the house clean. You work on looking after your family, pets and loved ones. But where does working on yourself appear in the list?

This is something I know women struggle with on a daily basis. Life is a constant stream of doing what we need to do for ourselves, forgetting for a while, and then remembering how important it is to put yourself first sometimes. But when we forget for a while, that can turn into a very long time.

What Can I Do To Refresh Myself?

It’s easy for us to get set in our ways. When we have a job and a routine that we do day in day out, we can end up doing this for years. Nothing changes. But it’s important that we do something each day that is different to our routine. Whether this is putting a film on one night when you usually watch TV. Or doing some sewing or weaving when you’re usually writing. Or going out for a walk instead of your usual exercise routine.

Doing what we usually do and doing it often can make us stressed and tired. But I think there are some things we can do to help refresh ourselves.

Stay available to opportunities

Life will always throw open doors our way. Do you want to be in a place where you have the option to consider whether to step through it?

Hell yes.

Better to have the option than no option at all. You never know what opportunities might come your way.

Focus on what’s important in your life

This is crucial for being fulfilled and happy in life. I’m conscious about things that matter to me. Everything else I ignore. Most of the conversations I heard in my old office and conversations Tom tells me about his job are all background noise. They don’t matter. What’s the point in giving these things value when they aren’t worth our time?

Something important here is a phrase a reader has previously said to me: decide what you aren’t willing to compromise on. You are the one that decides what is important in your life. Everything else, you can put aside. Your colleague may have really annoyed you today. Ask yourself if they are important to you. If they aren’t, it’s not worth letting it take up space in your mind.

Do things for yourself

You could be the busiest person in the world. But you’ve got to make time for yourself. Even if it’s an hour a week on a Sunday afternoon. If you make an effort to do something for yourself, you are being intentional with your time. This is the most effective and worthwhile way to live. The cleaning will always be there. Your work will always be there. But you need to look after yourself. That’s what matters most of all.

If you spend too much time not paying attention to yourself, you will soon start to notice. You may even feel yourself becoming resentful.

“Take time to do what makes your soul happy.”

None of us want to look back in six months and see that we spent 99% of our time on our work. That’s not what life is about, is it? We don’t want to resent the time we spend living, no matter what we’re doing. It’s you that is most important.

But not only are we important to ourselves, we’re also important to others. How much we care for ourselves affects the people around us. When I worked in Stockport, I was doing twelve hour days, with travelling included. Coming home to everything gave me hardly any time to do things for me. My family noticed and it worried them. People worry when we’re burning ourselves out because they know it’s not good for us.

Our work is important. Our hobbies are important. But what’s most important is how you are, and how your loved ones are. The people that mean everything to you. Refreshing yourself is how you live the life you want to live. It’s about being intentional and passionate with your time and what you do. And it’s what you deserve.

I’d love to know, do you make time to refresh yourself?