Time Management
Since moving to Tennessee I’ve picked up a few new hobbies. One of which would be this blog. That being said, I’ve learned a lot about time management, and I learned that I’m terrible at it. In Rhode Island, all I did was work and hang out with friends, I wasn’t going to school, I didn’t have a hobby and I did a lot of nothing. So what filled that space? What took up that time for me? The answer is work. I ate slept and breathed work. When I wasn’t working or picking up shifts all I did was think about what I needed to do or talk to coworkers. Now you must be thinking “Ari, that must be exhausting.” It was. I was constantly stressed. But don’t worry, when I wasn’t thinking about work I was on social media or with friends, since then I’ve stopped talking to the toxic ones so that has left me with a significantly lower number, but it’s still an amazing solid group of people.
Since moving to Tennessee, I decided to leap outside my comfort zone, which we talked last week. In doing so, I’ve started an online course to further my education, started going to the gym and picked up this blog. Let me tell you, I did not realize what the phrase “I don’t have time for that” really meant until I truly had no time. I finally put work on the back burner and started to make time for me. I’d like to take this time to mention how much happier and less stressed I’ve been as well and I will dive back into working like that when I want to further my career, however, I’m focusing on me for right now.
When I made this switch from a work mindset to a me mindset I started hearing from friends and family that they haven’t heard from me or they noticed I haven’t been online as much. I’m not jumping to answer my phone or messages and I don’t like their posts anymore. Some even did a wellness check for me. (I do have a history of anxiety and depression so those people truly touched my heart.) But all is well, I still love and support them, and I feel bad about being less active or talkative, but my only answer is “I’ve been busy”. Terrible answer I know, they do deserve more, I just don’t have more to give.
So I’m going to break it down right here because they deserve a better answer, they deserve to know what I’m doing, they deserve to know what I’ve been up to and that I’m not ignoring them. I did the math. There are 168 hours in a 7 day week. If I had 8 hours of sleep a night, work 40 hours a week, set aside an hour a day for 6 days for that online course, an hour a day for 6 days for the gym and an hour a week to write a blog post, all together that’s 109 hours a week. Now lets take away one 16 hour day to run errands, clean and get ready for the week. That’s now 125 hours. This leaves me with 43 for anything I want. That’s plenty of time right? Wrong. I then take away another hour a day to decompress and get ready for bed. Now we are at 36 hours a week. Well that’s more than a day right? That’s still a lot! It is, however, I haven’t included drive times or time to get ready in the morning. I had to subtract just 7 hours to have time for myself to decompress, imagine how much time it takes me to get ready and drive to all these places.
I’m not making this post to be condescending or rude, I’m just shedding some light on how much time investing in yourself truly takes and the importance of time management. I love my friends and family and I try to fit in texts and calls when I can but it is truly difficult at times. I honestly feel for the high school or college kids with jobs and extracurricular activities, or the parents that work, and now have to worry about multiple people’s schedule. It’s exhausting. It’s hard work. But I love it. I love everything I’m doing and I’m having a blast. I have never been so happy or at peace in my life. It works for me. If it’s weighing on you, I’d say make more time for yourself or take something away, but if you’re like me and love to stay busy and love what you do, carve out time for the ones you love, they matter just as much and it centers you from the craziness. Plus, it always puts a smile on my face at the end of the day.