prioritizing things
“I don’t have time!” How often do we say that about things we have to do? It’s a regular phrase in my life, and I joke that if I could get by with 3-4 hours of sleep every night, then I’d be able to get a lot more done (however sleep is very important to health, so I aim for 7-8 hours each night). I think back of when I trained for the Ironman triathlon, putting in 10-20 hours of exercise every week, and when I’ve done marathon training, running 5 days a week up to 3 hours for a long run. Maybe I just wasn’t as busy back then? Recently it seems that my life has just been busier than it has ever been, and I’ve wondered how I’d find time to train for a race. But recently I signed up for a race, and guess what? I found the time! It’s really all about PRIORITIES. We make time for what is important and most of the time, what is important changes on a monthly (or sometimes weekly) basis.
Swimming has always been a strength of mine and something I love to do. While running is my first love, due to a cranky left knee, I’ve had to back off on running so I’ve done more swimming lately. I wanted a new challenge, so I searched for an open water swimming race, and found one in Charleston, SC over Memorial Day weekend. It was either 2.4 miles or 6 miles … so I picked the 6 mile swim. I signed up for the race only two months prior to it, and had to increase the distance of my swims quickly. This wasn’t a race where you could really drop out (since you are in the ocean!), you had to finish, thus I had to get in shape fast. I added another day of swimming and then worked to increase my distance, which also meant increase the amount of time I was swimming – remember; “I don’t have enough time”!!! But I found the time, re-arranged a few things, cut back on others, and suddenly there was time to get done what I needed. It’s all about priorities.
What in your life do you need to prioritize? Is it something new? Meal planning, exercise, quiet time, chiropractic adjustments, self-care? Most of us get so caught up in life, that we don’t make time for what we need for ourselves, neglecting our health in some way. I’m guilty of it as well, we all are to an extent. But when you need to do something, you will find the time.
Make self-care more of need than a want, schedule that time for you. We have patients that schedule two weeks in advance, making that time for the adjustment and then scheduling other things around that (we love that!). Others wait until the day they want to come in, and sometimes we have space other times we do not. Making time for adjustments is prioritizing you, squeezing it in is prioritizing other things (but we know, life often gets in the way, especially with children & their activities). And that can vary, we understand that. When I make time to meal plan on a Sunday, I have a great week of eating. If I don’t, I end up eating out at restaurants more than I should, rushing to find a meal, and snacking more than I should. It’s all about finding the time and prioritizing things.
Each week or each month find something healthy to focus on, make it a priority, make it important. You will probably see your health improve in some way.
And by the way, my 6-mile swim race went well. The water was nice & calm the first half, and the second half both the waves and current picked up, as it made it very choppy water but the current pushed us all along. It took about 2 hours to finish (yes, that’s two straight hours of non-stop swimming in the ocean), but I got it done! Now to find my next goal….
