Me Time

By Ibby Smith Stofer

They say time flies but does it really, or do we simply let it pass without valuing it?

We all have the same amount of time each day, each week, and each year. What we do with it can make huge differences in our life, our success, our relationships, and our overall happiness.

Just think about today. We have 24 hours that are each 60 minutes long and each minute is exactly 60 seconds long. For those with a pension for math, that means we have 86,400 seconds each day. However, for most activities it might be easier to think in terms of minutes, there are 1,440 each day.

If you spend 8 plus hours at work you have spent 480 minutes engaged at your work location and you will spend another 30-60 minutes commuting to and from.

Health experts recommend we spend at least another 30-60 minutes in daily exercise and another 8 hours sleeping. Oh, and we need to add in time for eating and other personal care chores, so let’s say that is another 60-120 minutes.

With the help of a calculator we have accounted for approximately 1200 (using maximum recommendations/assumptions) of those daily available minutes doing what is expected of us. That would leave somewhere around 4 hours that we can use to play, learn, or otherwise use for non-expected behavior. Is that the time that flies? Perhaps, but what can we as individuals do to make the most of this “daily bonus time” and not let it escape with little attention to its rapid and often unnoticed departure?

Sounds like I am going to suggest more expected minute expenditures, right? Well, in a way, I am. Each of us has passions and things we would love to have time to enjoy. Too often we let routine chores and expectations take up these precious minutes without realizing that we have opened the door and let time fly away from us.

My suggestion is to develop a plan that includes time for all that required stuff, but also schedules time for your passions, be they your family, friends, hobbies or other things that excite you. Don’t let another day, or any part of those 1440 precious minutes go by without adjusting your schedule to include time for your own desires and needs, whatever they may be. Time will fly as you enjoy your “free” time. So set down the phone, don’t open the computer, don’t look at your work email and just have some ME Time!