I Haven’t Got Time

“I haven’t got time.” I used to use this excuse a lot. Where would I fit a commitment to anything other than work, sleep and homelife?

I didn’t have time for the gym, for hobbies, for phone calls to family and friends, for building the business I desperately wanted to move into full time but had put minimal effort into.

And I truly believed I didn’t have time. Until a change in perspective was thrust in my face.

A friend became very unwell with bowel cancer and had to have her bowel removed, replacing this with a colostomy bag. I met with her for lunch following her recovery (yes I found the time) and we got chatting about how time consuming the bag was as it needed to be regularly cleaned and this took some time to do. I remember expressing how frustrating this must be, trying to find the extra time to accomplish this, to which she simply replied “I’ve just built it into my day.” This struck me hard.

Her words played on my mind. I was holding myself back from doing things I desperately wanted to do because I was stuck in my own belief that I was too busy to do anything about it, yet here she was restructuring her entire daily routine to accommodate something she had not wanted nor asked for, all without complaint, and had still found the time for lunch with a friend.

I felt ashamed. She’d had such a tough time and here I was complaining I didn’t have the time to focus on my passions. So I decided, initially out of guilt, that I’d rebuild my day. I created a time-table that instantly surprised me because in front of my face was evidence that I had lots and lots of time to do the things I wanted and needed to do. There were free spaces available almost daily when I laid out the commitments I already had in place. I didn’t need to change anything at all apart from being more productive with the time I already had at my disposal.

There’s something about writing down and visibly looking at your daily life. You can’t escape the reality of it. You can’t make excuses. Being stubborn in nature, I tried. “I might have all this time but I’m too tired to do anything with it because of everything else I’m doing!” I wasn’t. I quickly recognised that this was simply another excuse to procrastinate. I thought of my friend. She didn’t have the luxury of procrastinating. I had to get myself moving and start building my wants and needs into my day.

Adding additional things into my timetable and committing myself to doing them allowed me to feel more focused on the positive things I wanted to achieve and, once I got started on completing these tasks and I began to reap the benefits of these, my motivation soared and I began to feel more and more energetic and excited about my life and my future. I felt so much more fulfilled. 

I also found the added benefit of really enjoying the empty spaces in my timetable. I make the most of my downtime and employ self-care activities during these periods. I use them to my benefit.

Now I really AM busy, but this is now a positive aspect to my life rather than an excuse to do anything else with it. 

There’s always room to amend and build into your day. 

What’s stopping you?