#42: Too Busy for Your Own Good?

Your life is full, but are you happy?

Do you ever sit down to eat dinner and say, “Wow. I think this is the first time I’ve sat down all day!” I do. It can’t be true, but it sure does feel like it sometimes. It is so easy to get caught up in the grind of life—running the kids around, getting some work done, picking up milk at the store, cooking if you’re lucky, more work, emails—to the point that you may have lost touch with your friends, family, or even yourself. If you are someone who says, “I don’t have time to exercise,” this might be describing you.

You might be busy, but are you happy? Think about that for a second. Are you making time for you to be happy? Sometimes when we are too busy, we overlook our own needs; a basic example is how you might be so focused on the presentation you’re writing that you put off getting up to use the bathroom for an hour or more. Caught you, huh? If you neglect yourself, you won’t be able to be the best you you can be.

If you settle for takeout for your dinner most nights because you work late, and you gain weight and become unhealthy, you are doing your family a disservice. Your family relies on you—so you need to take care of yourself! If you get sick, the work won’t matter anymore—you’ll just wish you had taken better care of yourself.

You need to be strong to keep all the various balls of your life in the air. So stop thinking it’s “selfish” to take time to go to the gym. Boost your energy, endurance, and physical fitness by setting aside a little time for you and your health, even if it’s just a half hour a day. If you already exercise, maybe it’s meditation you need. Or simply 15 minutes with a book on a park bench. Get back in touch with yourself, and see just how beautifully that radiates into the rest of your life.