Como está a gastar o seu tempo?

How we spend our time says a lot about who we are… or, so it’s been said. So, we should choose to spend it wisely. Não temos muito tempo para fazer tudo o que queremos.

Often, we teeter between having way too much on our plates and having nothing to do. In the moments we are crazy busy, there seems to be no end in sight. Our to-do list seems to be impossibly long. We’re sure we’ll never be able to accomplish it all. We hustle to work our way through it only to find this causes us to crash and burn.

When we finally cross out that last must-do, we are exhausted and don’t feel up to doing much of anything. All we want to do is rest and we sit there dreading the next round of chaos. Or, perhaps, we’ve forgotten altogether how to relax, so we’re stuck in a state of high alert, anxiously waiting for the next time the ball drops.

Demasiadas vezes, a vida ensina-nos a ter pressa. E, durante tanto tempo, esquecemo-nos de como levar o nosso tempo. Esquecemo-nos de que, ao levarmos o nosso tempo para concluir projectos, dando a nós próprios expectativas razoáveis para trabalhar, podemos fazer o que tem de ser feito sem evocar desequilíbrios físicos, mentais e emocionais doentios que se prolongam muito depois de a tarefa estar concluída.

Portanto, sim, a forma como gastamos o nosso tempo é uma boa indicação de quem somos. Permite-nos anunciar o ponto em que nos encontramos na nossa viagem de auto-descoberta. Será que dedicámos algum tempo a compreender que devemos colocar a nossa saúde e o nosso bem-estar em primeiro lugar? We must set boundaries when we’re flooded with requests from others.

Por muito difícil que possa parecer, temos de aprender a dizer não.

This is so much harder to do than it seems. It’s a simple word, but in practice, we tend to try to eliminate it altogether from our vocabulary. This is because we’ve grown to expect instant gratification. We want unity, not isolation. We want to feel accepted and we’ve been told “no” never makes friends.

Saying no to others may mean we get some backlash, so at first, it doesn’t feel good. Only when we’ve had some alone time to reconnect with ourselves and truly understand our limitations does the choice seem reasonable.

We may be social creatures by nature and constantly want to people-please and for others to like us. The reality is, however, we all have a breaking point. If we choose not to listen and push past this, we’ll wear ourselves down to nothing and won’t be fun to be around anyway.

Ao dizermos que sim, apesar de o nosso corpo estar a gritar que não, estaremos a alienar os outros a longo prazo. Os outros são mais perspicazes do que pensamos. We can’t hide imbalance forever. When we become exhausted, everything starts to fall apart.

Então, como é que devemos gastar o nosso tempo?

Try, first, to make time in your busy schedule to connect with your own thoughts and understand how you feel. Allow your mind and body to tell you where you’re at honestly and without judgment. Listen when it speaks.

If you feel energized and ready to take on a new challenge, great. But if you can’t stand the thought of stretching yourself any thinner, stop.

Hear this clearly. Truly hear it and listen to what your inner thoughts are telling you. It shouldn’t matter what others are asking of you, this voice should always come first. It knows best because it knows you best. Your intuition and inner voice is a very real part of you that should never be ignored.

Além disso, vale a pena pensar no tempo que a nossa vida demora a ser cultivada, no quão essencial é para nós adquirir novas competências, por exemplo, para escrever livros ou blogues. No início do desenvolvimento, pode ser necessário alguma ajuda para escreverNesta reparação, pode fazer novas amizades, o que é uma parte vital de qualquer pessoa.

This voice will tell you how to spend your time. That’s the bottom line. Others may continue to push you or attempt to steer you in another direction, but they aren’t you.

Retraining ourselves to release constant chaos isn’t easy. The world doesn’t promote it. It’s counter-intuitive to how most think and how society operates. And, this is precisely why there are very few people who seem to be healed from societal constraints and demands. There are few who seem at peace. Are you?