Many of my clients want to make positive and healthy changes in their lives. Yet they say that the single most important barrier they face is “not enough time”.
While that sense of “no time” is a perception, it can seem very real indeed. In reality, any given moment can expand to provide the time you need.
Have you noticed that time really isn’t static at all? It’s more like play dough. You can squeeze it down tight into a little ball or you can stretch it out and expand it – bigger than before.
One problem is that the perception of “no time” comes from not being present to what’s going on inside ourselves.
We know the positives and negatives of too much T.V. watching. While it can be relaxing and de-stressing, it also eats into available time for real self-care.
But isn’t there an even more insidious time waster that can eat away your precious minutes and hours? A monster that encourages you to sit more, eat more and stress more and leave self-care by the wayside.
Yep! It’s the world of Social Media, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Apps, Email – all keeping our focus “out there”, “busy”, and “distracted”.
Have you fallen into a social media time sink hole? How can you tell?
• Do you find yourself surfing the internet and suddenly realize that an hour has gone by?
• Are you frequently checking for social media posts?
• Are you constantly looking for the next email to drop into your box?
• Do you answer your mobile device even when you’re in the midst of a conversation with someone live?
How can you reap the benefits of technology but leave its negative consequences behind? It really depends on whether you allow technology to dominate your life or whether you choose to take charge.
Here are three questions to help you decide:
• When are you willing to be interrupted by technology? Anytime? Any place? No matter what you are doing?
• How exactly are you being affected by texting, posting, searching, linking, scanning?
• Does social media take time away from your self-care?
Is technology using you and trapping you in a time sink? Or are you using technology? How would you like it to be?
