We are a month in the new year. We’ve made it through January - which is always something to celebrate.

I’m not sure about you, but I have been struggling with my time and my calendar. I already feel like my time is getting away from me, my calendar is waaaay too full. This really hit home last week when I was at the dentist trying to make a follow up appointment. I am one of those folks that still keeps a real calendar. - no digital one for me. I like to write it down, see it, figure out how to fit things between other things and have the juggling in front of me in black and white. I stood at the check out desk with my handy little calendar open to schedule a follow up appointment.

The month of February had far too much of my handwriting over all of the weeks and days. So the sweet receptionist and I turned over to March. Again, my own handwriting covered far to many days of the month. We could not find a single day in either month to take care of my sore tooth.

I have definitely lost control of my calendar and the margin that I love to have in my days and weeks. I actually love to have empty space in my weeks and empty space in the day. When possible.

In my last post, I wrote about making time to do the things that I love to do, like writing here. Well, guess what? I need some of that empty space to put the thoughts down on paper, the time to organize the thoughts, and the time to put it out. And I have made very little progress in making or finding more time.

I read something recently that, on average, we all have at least 22 hours of time in the week.

That’s like a part time job for each of us! Where is this extra time? What are we doing with these extra 22 hours? It really doesn’t seem possible, does it?

I think we all know we waste far too much time scrolling. Those of you my age or so know that when we were in highschool or college we obviously had plenty of time, experienced so many things in real time, and were busy with our own jam packed schedules - without the time such of social media. We could get a lot of things done, and still have that white space in our brain, blank times in our days and weeks do do what we wanted and needed to do.

Maybe it comes down to basic math. We can actually look at what we are doing, have to do and what we want to do. I want to swap some time draining or wasting habits for ones that support my wellness, creative and fun goals.

As much as I do not like math, I decided to do a little basic math. This is what it looks like. Of course, mine will look different from yours, but maybe it’ll give you some ideas about your own time and ways to take back some of it.

One: Where Does Your Week Go?

First of all, we have to look at where we spend our time. Take an honest look - no beating yourself up and no judgment!

1. Total Weekly Hours: Start with 168 hours (7 days x 24 hours)

2. Subtract Non-Negotiables:

Work: 40 hours (or your average workweek, commitments, volunteer, whatever that looks like for you)
Sleep: 56 hours (8 hours per night) WE ALL NEED SLEEP! Maybe you are one of those lucky ones that gets 9 hours a night - log it in!
Other obligations (eating, commuting, chores, family responsibilities, church, exercise) @50 hours

This leaves you with approximately 22 free hours every week!

Two: What now?

Now that you’ve identified your available hours, what would your life look and feel like if you could focus on things that make you feel good, are positive and add to your wellbeing? What would those be?

What could you do for your physical wellbeing?

Exercising (yoga, walking, workout, stretching)
Meal prepping and cooking healthy meals
Working on good sleep hygiene

What could you do for your mental wellbeing?

Learn something new
Creating time for hobbies
Having mental space for mediation, creating, dreaming
Seeing friends, connecting, voluteering

Three: Here’s an example

Here are some of the things/habits/goals/fun that could be those 22 hours:

3 Hours: Meal prep for the week (Sunday afternoon)
5 Hours: Exercise (3 one-hour workouts + 3 half-hour walks)
2 Hours: Meditation or mindfulness or reading (15 minutes daily)
4 Hours: Quality time with family or friends (dinner, movie night, bridge/mahjong, or a walk together)
3 Hours: Journaling or reading for personal growth
5 Hours: Hobbies or passion projects (ANYTHING that sounds fun? Gardening, painting, crafts, writing, tap dancing, learning to play the guitar, refinishing furniture, fishing, antiquing. . . it’s endless!)

There’s lots of flexibility here to make it work for your own health, interests and goals.

I’m definitely not pushing you to be more productive.

I’m pushing for you, me, all of us, to get our heads out of our phones, or away from draining things that are not necessary or important so that we can get out and live, be, do things that are uplifting, fun, make us feel whole and connected. To use our time to focus on activities that align with our goals and that keep us interested, interesting and vital.

We can create space in our days and weeks that will add to our whole experience and wellbeing.

22 Whole Hours!

Have a Great week! 💚