He made me think … how many of us don’t have the time to “buy new shoes.” It seems the common theme these days is that we are all so busy with school, work, family, friends, and whatever else, we just don’t seem to take care of ourselves. How often do we let things go until the “soles fall off?”
If I really think about it, I can recall students telling me that their car needs an oil change but “that can wait” or that they have a pain in their arm but “don’t have time to go to the doctor.” I probably could come up with countless examples like these where they put important things on hold just to make it through the day. These things that they put off will only get worse, they know it, but, still, they write that paper, go to work, and/or cook dinner instead.
I get it … you have to write that paper, you need your job and the family needs to eat. But, you need shoes, you need a working car and you need to stay healthy as well.
So, my tips for this are simple:
1) Take the time to plan your time! Take 15 minutes or so and map out what you need to get done. You’ll be surprised at how much you actually get done if you plan on doing it first.
2) Prioritize: Understand what must happen and what should happen. Often, we get the two confused.
3) Reward Yourself: Do something for you. You can watch reality TV, surf the internet or call an old friend – do whatever it is that takes care of you. After taking care of everything else – you deserve it!
I make it sound so easy. The truth is, some days, it will be easy, other days it won’t. The secret to getting through the hard days is to focus on the easy ones. If that doesn’t work for you, at the very least, take a look at the bottom of your shoes every once and a while, just to make sure…. (try not to let those soles fall off!)