Have you got a minute?

How many of you have a daily to-do list? I am sure we all do. Whether it's electronic, on paper or in our heads we know what needs to be done every minute of the day and usually try to get it all done in those 24 hours. But if you are anything like me "uninterrupted free time" for yourself is usually no where to be found on that list. This free time consists of those rare and precious moments where we choose to do the things that we enjoy for ourselves without any constant interruptions! How many of us are guilty of postponing our free time until everyone else around us is well-taken care of? (raises hand) The trouble with that plan is that usually by the time we take care of everyone else we are too exhausted to do anything for ourselves.

Recently when my daughter asked us to take her and her friend to the car show...I decided to opt out of this trip and stay home...alone. As much as I loathe love walking around for hours looking at fancy over priced cars, I grabbed this rare opportunity to have some free time. As soon as I heard the car pull out of the driveway I asked myself what was it that I really wanted to do. Of course, I had to fight off the urge to tackle the load of laundry that needed to be folded.

Then it hit me. Watch a movie. That was what I wanted to do. Watch a movie uninterrupted. I was so excited.

You see I like to watch different types of movies than my family. I love foreign movies...(yes with subtitles and all), B-rated movies (the ones that go straight to DVD) and Lifetime Movies (all of them). Usually, when I watch these movies I have to hear all the comments about my choice of corny and predictable movies...so I decided that for my free time I would watch the movies that I like and that is exactly what I did. And I didn't just watch 1 movie....I watched 4!! And it was blissfully wonderful! When my family came home I felt very satisfied with the use of my free time and was ready to hear all about the car show.

Now these opportunities of leisure time do not always fall into our laps most times we have to create them. Decide what it is that you want to do for yourself and then put YOU on your daily agenda. Your idea of free time may not be a movie marathon it might be taking a nap, reading a magazine, getting a massage, taking a walk or just being alone with your own thoughts for a few minutes. Whatever it is... we need to learn to put off or delegate some of our daily responsibilities for a few minutes a day. Let's face it most of our to-do-lists are overwhelming and unrealistic anyway. As much as we hate to admit it we can't always do it all without burning ourselves out. We need to prioritize and schedule in even a few minutes of downtime for ourselves daily.

So I will ask you again...have you got a minute...for you?