Finding more YOU time: A Time Efficiency Series

I think almost everyone knows the feeling of not getting enough time for themselves. Not getting enough time to fill your “self” tank, as I call it, effects more than just yourself. Your “self” tank effects everything you’re involved in. This is one of the things I struggle with the most often and the most severely. That’s why I’m so happy to share with you guys a series about finding more time to do what YOU love! Sewing! Or any other thing that fills you up!

I, as a mom, have such a hard time pulling time away from child raising, homemaking, and working, to find time for me. Often times, I don’t realize that I haven’t filled my “self” tank until I’m completely drained and exhausted. Letting myself get run down really effects every aspect of my life. When I get to this point, there are times that I feel too deep into the household mess to even see that it’s messy. I feel I don’t remember how to enjoy just sitting and playing with my two children. My husband notices that I’m distant and put away from him. My work as a blogger is also affected, I get writers block, or just sheer lack of all motivation.

A brief explanation of the “self” tank would be something that you do for you. My example of the “self” tank is doing something that makes me feel 1. accomplished and 2. Something that encourages growth of myself. For others it could just be time to unwind and think, or read a book. I tend to omit television time as a “self” tank filler as usually not much productivity comes from this. For myself, I love to learn, advance and grow myself in any and all aspects whether art, dance, or a skill of some sort like canning!

Too frequently I find myself angry and yelling more often than I should to the loved ones around me. This yelling is my breaking point when I realize I haven’t made any time for me that fits into my family’s schedule. The result of not making time is fighting for that time instead, which only creates a more hostile environment. I’m left feeling guilty and worse, feeling guilty for trying to get time for myself. This, as you can imagine, creates a pretty crummy cycle.

So the first point in this series is figuring out what it is that actually fills you up, makes you proud, and gets you walking away with a sense of fulfillment. So many of you sew and love sewing so I can imagine that will be the majority of your answers 🙂 Figuring out what fills you up is the first step, the second is finding and making time for that self filling task.

My first tip for making more time for yourself is really analyzing how well you’re using all of your time. Are there spaces in your schedule that could be used wiser? Getting on social media can be such a time sucker which leads to absolutely no productivity, no self fulfillment and most times, it leaves you walking away feeling worse about yourself. Now, there is an exception to this, obviously our SUAT Facebook chat is more than helpful, encouraging and positive. Its the bored/aimless news feed scrolling that can get you into trouble. Looking in detail throughout your day can really be an eye opener to how you use your time, but can be helpful in figuring out how to squeeze in more time for you. I personally feel better when I’ve taken a block of time to myself instead of small intervals. To achieve this block of time, I push myself to stay on track with household chores and children’s needs, no side tracking. I set a time for myself, saying that “Once my daughter wakes up from her nap, I’m going to take time for myself.”. Whether that time for myself is sketching, showering, finishing a blog post, or catching up with a friend for some social time, it all just depends on the day.

So there you have it, a small window into my struggles as a mom, blogger, and homemaker! What about you guys, do you know what fills you up? I had to really sit and contemplate this before I could answer. Not knowing what made me feel full was an even bigger red flag to me, I no longer knew what I even enjoyed anymore! Now thats an empty “self” tank!

If your answer was in fact sewing, follow me into next week where I will cover tips on making your sewing projects more time efficient. So you can squeeze them into small intervals or squeeze multiple projects seamlessly into a larger block of time.