* Feature image: Sunset at the Nazca Lines, Peru.
Not too long ago, I discovered one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves and everyone around us. It’s not an intentional nor a malicious lie, but it’s a lie that limits us in more ways that we could imagine.
It’s just 5 words. 5 words that we say in absolute exasperation many times. 5 damning words that makes us completely and utterly out of control. “I don’t have the time”
We’ve all been there and we’ve all said this, haven’t we. Do we stop to think about what it truly means to be saying that sentence so often? We all have the same amount of time a day. 24 marvelous hours. We each fill it up with different activities but when the clock hits 12 at night, that 24 hours is over and a new day sets in for each of us. At 7am, some are walking their child to school, some are doing a trail run, some are having breakfast with family and some are still sleeping. We are all doing this because we choose to do it.
To the person who walks their child, being with them and protecting them from any danger is a priority. To the trail runner, that morning exercise is a priority. To the person having breakfast with family, filling their stomachs and spending time together is a priority. To the person sleeping, sleep is a priority at 7am. To each, their own!
So when something comes up, or we want to do something we have not done before, or someone asks us for our time, the real question is do we want to swap what we had in mind for that new activity? Is it then a question of do we have the time or is it a question of priority?
Because when something is a priority, you make time.
“I don’t have the time” is a get out of jail card but don’t let yourself believe what that sentence actually means at face value. Don’t lie to yourself that you would actually like to do something but just don’t have the time!
Take control back and start being honest with yourself that you can’t do something because you choose not to. If you haven’t met your buddy from high school for the last 8 years, it’s probably because that meeting isn’t important enough for you to make it happen. That’s just the truth and it may be harsh when you think about it but it is also tremendously empowering.
As you start practicing this flavour of honesty, you will find yourself increasingly aware of time and how you choose to fill it. You may find that
you actually do have time for some of those activities you’ve been putting off and even more incredible is that you may find you actually don’t have the time for some of the stuff you are doing!
I previously didn’t have the mental energy for a lot of things. Now that I’m divorced a lot of my time and energy is freed up, so I have to admit that I have plenty of time to do things. The question is whether I have the physical energy (I have chronic fatigue) but even that has something to do with how I prioritize my activities. If something’s important enough, I schedule my tasks around it to ensure I have the energy for it. So yeah it’s about how much you care a lot of the time.
Thanks for sharing Abigail! Sometimes I think we all know this but forget it and it leads us to feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Simply remembering that how we fill our 24 hours in always in our hands and that helps with the mindset around activities (excitement and joy). The physical energy is also impacted by our mindset to a certain extent, am sure you would agree!
Well said. It’s so easy to hide behind the line of “I don’t have enough time”, but when we actually sit down and track where our time goes, we find there’s plenty of wiggle room within the 168 hours/week.
Sure is and watching our words to be truthful to at least ourselves on where our time actually is being spent makes a lot of difference! Thanks for popping by Kim!