Make Time For Yourself with My 5 Top Tips

1. Living With Gratitude

I always had more month than money, and this had been my issue from when I was a kid to when I finally left my corporate career. 

The one thing that you need to start with is gratitude. 

My response was “But if there is nothing in your day to be grateful for, how can you show gratitude to build that energy of loving your life again?” 

This is something you lose really quickly when you dislike what you do. So this is where I started. 

Every time I paid for something, like physically taking out my card, I had to say thank you to the universe. 

Every single time!

This allowed me to see how much I could spend. Breakfast every morning, my train ticket, my lunch, drinks after work, parking, dinner, because I could never be bothered to cook. 

But I spent money every single day. Not just on going out at the weekend. 

But every single day.

So this exercise also taught me how frivolous and emotional I was with my money. 

I would spend on things I defo did not need. I’d be so tired I would spend on coffee and food I would have made at home. 

I made so many realisations, just by trying to be grateful. 

It also taught me to see how much I really had, how blessed I was to have a car to drive every day, to have a job that paid, to have colleagues to say good morning to and so on. 

Things started to turn around in my mind because I was forcing myself to see what I could possibly be grateful for today. 

2. Go with your flow!

Think you can’t make time for yourself?  Think again. 

No seriously, think again, about how you spend your time. 

It’s not a trick question. 

Whilst i was working on my mindset i realised that there is a belief around how much control I have over time, and in reality we don’t have any control. 

We can plan and schedule and reschedule but in reality, it’s still you that has to make it happen. 

If you are the one that has to make it happen, then it’s not time that is stopping you, it’s your mind and the way you think about time. 

When you see the time that you have as something you need to connect to with your feelings and your truest plan, you see where you are more capable, when you’re more energetic, when you need a pick me up and so on. 

You start to realise your own patterns.

This is where I leant into my night owl traits. I used to understand that I would get home and for the first hour just laze about, but when it was time to go to sleep, I would have 10,00000 ideas come into my head. 

This is where the mind again will begin to play games. 

It will highlight that you never wake up earlier to do more, or that you have no money to do anything. 

The usual things that stop you for moving forward normally will come up. 

But stay focused. 

So at about 8 o’clock, realised that was when I came alive. 

So I would read, or create content, or research, or write. I would go with my emotions and energy, not against them. 

Today I am trying to change into a morning person, but this understanding of who I really am, needed to happen first to be able to change anything about my habits.

3. Self care = Self worth

Part of the reason people struggle to go out of their comfort zone is because they do not feel like they are good enough to do so. They feel they will be rejected and that they lack something that other people hold secret. 

If this is you, you are missing the point of self worth. 

Only you know how worthy you are, of the life you live, of the challenges you face, and of course all the accomplishments that you have made. 

Making time for yourself, creating space for you to love yourself more, and taking care of yourself, is the first way you can begin to build your self worth. 

Understanding that we all need to make time for ourselves, to show love to you our mind, body and soul, is the first step. Then figure out what that looks like for you. 

Personally, I love a nice hot shower, there’s something that wakes me up about a nice shower with loud music, helps me get pumped for my day, I moisturise my whole body every morning for my body care routine, and I meditate to help calm my mind, body and soul. I also cook nice meals, and have lots of treats. 

But what does yours look like? Some people love mirror work, some love walking alone, some love the gym. What’s your one thing that you do to make yourself feel in love with you?

4. Declutter for you

One of my things is I like to start fresh. 

Even though I know this is so unnecessary, this is something I like to do. But in life we accumulate so much baggage that can be frustrating. 

So I want to introduce you to the habit of decluttering your devices and your life. 

I did this recently in my personal life and business, and it made me feel so much better about myself.

So I recently started to delete old photos. You see, I have this habit of taking five photos of the same thing. 

Completely unnecessary, but I never delete them. So I started to go back and delete them. 

It was nice to go back down memory lane. But also now I have more space, and can actually find things. Lol

I also did this with my inboxes, and moved them to specific folders. My inbox fills up so quickly but getting into the habit of doing this every weekend helps realise the amount of rubbish I hold onto and really don’t need. 

I want to start with my wardrobe but it feels like a mammoth task. I know it needs to be done, and I will get to it before the year is over. (I hope) 

But this is another annoyance of mine. I have loads of clothes but always struggle to find them. Well, it’s because Ii’ve let them pile up over the years. 

Holding onto them until one day, which has never come. Is simply living in the future that doesn’t exist. So off they go. 

If money is a worry, one of the things I did was to carry out an audit of all the things I was regularly paying for but didn’t actually use. 

The first thing to go was my gym membership! Lol but I was also paying for subscription boxes, that just meant that I received more stuff than I actually wanted. 

This will encourage you to start thinking about how you are spending your money. 

Are you spending it on things that you need or just want? There is a big difference. I know this is an easy one, but so few of us actually do it. 

Finally , any mugs, plates, glasses, all of that kinda stuff that is chipped, scratched, not used, because it doesn’t work, get rid! This one made the most difference as I suddenly had space in the cupboards. 

Loool but we never do it, because we just dont always think about it. 

 5. Lastly, and most importantly, journaling

Journaling is one of my main tools that constantly supports me to make time for myself.

I use it when I am going through something, to manifest, to get through an emotion, to understand my blocks, to understand my triggers and so much more. 

Journaling is key to understanding yourself better, and knowing why you are the way that you are. But also to help you break through those negative cycles you go through. 

It is a habit that I sometimes don’t want to do, as reading back when you are going though is painful, but it is always enlightening. 

If you need help starting your journaling habit, I have 92 free journaling prompts. 

If any of this helped make time for yourself in any way, please let me know your story in the comments below. 

Arisha x