Food For Thought: Make more time for yourself

1^st November 2016

Food For Thought: Make more time for yourself

I don’t know if I’m too early with my new year’s resolutions for 2017, or if I’m just too late for 2016. However, I believe it’s never too early or too late to listen to yourself and make a change whenever you feel it’s about time.

The past 3 years, basically since graduating university and facing work life, I’ve constantly had this one issue I could not solve: Making more time for myself. When I was working for Formula 1 after graduating I was on the go all the time, living out of my suitcase with no daily routines at all. Later on, working in an agency, I did have my routines, but what was missing was time. Neither of these occupations were classic 9 to 5 jobs, which made it even harder to squeeze in some me-time. But as different as these jobs were, they taught me one thing: You alone are responsible for managing your time and looking after yourself.

People who know me, especially my family and close friends, know I’m that person who nags those I love. “You look tired, get some rest. Quit smoking, it’s not good for you. Don’t work so much, you deserve a holiday.” – these are my standard sentences. But when it comes to myself, I’m terrible at listening to my own advice. I get wrapped up in work so easily that I don’t manage to buy food, because the shops are already closed. It takes me weeks to make a doctor’s appointment or it takes serious efforts of persuasion from my boyfriend that I call in sick. But why is it so hard to listen to yourself and look after yourself, when it’s actually that simple: take time for your meals, get some extra sleep when needed, drink those 8 glasses of water a day, move your body and take time to catch up on things you love doing. All of this should be a priority in our lives. And I’ve decided it’s time to make it one.

I want to start off this new mindset by slowly changing my daily routines and habits. My first big change will be taking time for breakfast every morning, not only on weekends or holidays. My second change is to incorporate more “me-time” into my days. This could be taking a lovely bath at night, cuddle up early in bed and read a book, call friends I haven’t spoken in a while… All the things that make me happy. And on top of that I want to try out something new: Yoga.

This topic has been in magazines and on many blogs I follow over the past months. Inevitably, I got curious why there is such a hype for it. After reading about all the benefits Yoga provides and realizing it’s actually not that hard to start with it, I was sold.

“Yoga is proven to be perfect for the relaxation of the nervous system, the back and the spine. It improves the performance of the brain, heart, and lungs. Your immune system becomes more resilient and you will quickly feel an emotional balance. Creativity and self-confidence are strengthened and your concentration is increased.”

Personally, I love how Yoga is a training for relaxation and strengthening at the same time. I’ve been doing some Yoga exercises at home for two weeks now, and I can already say that I do feel a positive effect. It’s calming and exhausting at the same time and the perfect ending to a long day sitting in front of a laptop.

If you’re interested in starting Yoga and are looking for tips for a successful start, I can highly recommend to check out Zalando’s “We Love Yoga” Guide. You can find workout videos, a Yoga playlist by Ju from JuYogi and a Yoga guide with all the things you need for a perfect start.

As I said before, we alone are responsible for looking after ourselves – it does not take much to do it, but it takes time to do it. And that’s what I want to give myself: more time.

More time for myself, for my well-being, for my family and friends, for all the things that I love doing. Because I realized only if I’m at my best and happy with myself, I have the ability to help others and make them happy.