Rediscover the Gift of Time

Love is Spelled T-I-M-E!

I used to be the queen of multitasking and proud of how many things I could do at once!  When I was a mom of young children, a successful business owner, a trainer, a life coach, a wife, and the master of multitasking I felt like I could do it all!  I could make toast, coffee, answer the phone, meal plan, and tell the kids what drawer their clothes were in all at the same time.  I could even hear the person on the phone and my children upstairs at the same time!!  Not only that, I was proud of that skill set!!  In reality, I did a lot, but I did nothing that was worth anything, as I was available to no one.  No one had my undivided attention, not even myself!  I was just good at doing six things at the same time. Does that sound familiar?

In 2012 my eyes were opened to what I said was most important to me and what my actions said was most important to me were two different things! Until that moment I did not realize what my reality was really like. I was not aware that I could do all these things at once, but not be available to anyone. I remember complaining often that I would stack my plates so high, meaning I would juggle one hundred priorities, commitments, and obligations that I would become exhausted. So I would do what I needed to do to get rid of my pile of plates, and have less obligations. I was never settled until my to-do list was complete, so I made it shorter!  I chased around all day getting the kids ready for school, building my business, training and coaching clients, preparing food, doing laundry, thinking about the bills that needed to be paid, the money that needed to be made, and everything else in between.  My goal was to have everything checked off my list and a clean house by 8:00pm when the kids went to bed so then I could relax and unwind.  In the span of a day, almost no one ever really had my undivided time and attention.  My mind was constantly thinking about how to make everything better for myself and everyone else, I was rarely in the moment.  This crazy cycle is how I lived for years!

When my reality hit me of how I was living, I realized I was not the mom, wife, friend, or business owner that I truly wanted to be.  Most importantly at that time, I was not the mom I wanted to be. I grew up with an absent mom, and I didn't realize through being so busy I was becoming the same. I said that my family was most important, but I lived like my list and schedule was most important. I realized I lived so out of alignment that my heart hurt.  The part that hurt my heart was that I wasn’t available for my children or husband.  I was always thinking about how to make my business better, how to make more money so then I could be the mom that I really wanted to be and the mom my children deserved to have.  Don’t get me wrong I was still a good mom, and person, but I was not being honest with myself and being the mom I knew deep down I wanted to be.  I was always chasing to become that person.  After my eyes were opened, I chose to become that person and stop believing that if I had a certain dollar figure in the bank then I would be that person.   

I've learned that to feel peaceful and content with yourself you have to live in alignment with what’s most important.   I never would have been content chasing time and money and not valuing the time and people I had right in front of me.  I’ve also learned I’m no different than the majority of people who chase time and money and don’t even know it.  My eyes were opened to how I really lived, only because deep down I wanted something better.  I knew what I was chasing was actually to become a woman of strength and value. I wanted to be a mom who could teach her daughters how to love themselves as they are, love others as they are, and respect and honor the gifts and talents they each have. Success to me was always raising my daughters to value their lives, and the woman they would grow to become. Because I wanted to be that mom so bad in my heart, I was ready for my eyes to be opened to the truth of how I was living. I saw it as my opportunity to make it right. I realized making it right meant I needed to love, honor, and respect myself and others, and to value the gifts and talents that I had unique to me. I didn’t know how to do that, I just knew it was a fresh start to see my life and future how I wanted to be and not how I had accepted it to be.  I moved forward with the very title of this article.  Love is spelled t-i-m-e.    

My hope is that you’re reading this and feeling similar to how I used to be and wanting that wake up call for yourself.  I also hope you see your future as an opportunity instead of being mad or upset about what you didn’t get, didn’t have a chance to do, and relationships gone by.  We all know we can’t undo the past, but we sure can re-write wrongs and make a better future.  Everyday is an opportunity to be a little kinder, a little more patient, a little more fun, a little more honest with yourself, and discover the gift of time and the value it brings to yourself, your family and those around you. 

Time is like a valuable treasure box waiting to be discovered!