Hi, My name is Asa. Thank you for visiting Minimalish Journaling blog, where I share all my journaling tips & My journaling workshop in Kigali.
Do you feel like you are managing to secure some selfcare moment during your everyday life?
Everyone is overwhelmed by daily activities, and wish for some beautiful moments to come where you can settle down and have mindfulness moment. BUT, we also know that it won’t come!!
So, during my journaling workshop in Kigali, we tried our best how to create time intentionally & how to enjoy the small bits and pieces of Mini- Me Time.
In this article, you will learn about how to create some time in your busy days, and how you can use the small time for yourself.
Everyone is waiting for the moment for ever
Everyone is surviving daily lives overloaded with so many tasks and chores, and wait for “the moment” to come, where you can actually sit down and have some relaxing moment.
Hoping that we can calm down and get the notebook out to journal.
Hoping that we can have a little bit of reflection moment.
Yes, it is a wish for every busy people. HOWEVER, we also kind of know that if we just wait, the moment will never come.
When is the last time you actually got your book out to journal? See…?
We all know that journaling is good for your mental health. We all know that some relaxing time is great for you.
But to find the time for it is another story. And we tends to feel “I have too many things on my table that I cannot do anything for myself..”
Let’s intentionally find Mini Me Time Opportunity
Now we know that it is not only you. Literally everyone finds it difficult to find quality time for yourselves during your busy days.
So, what should we do? Answer is simple. Let’s go & find them.
I call it “finding Mini Me Time” practice. During my journaling workshop, we took time to reflect on where we can find small time which are overseen in your days.
- 5 mins: While I’m waiting for PC to open up
- 10 mins: While waiting for hot water to be boiled to make morning coffee
- 15 mins: During latter half of lunch break, which I tend to just kill time on my phone after having lunch
- 15 mins: long queue at school gate, which I just sit and do nothing in the car
Looking for 30, 60 minutes in your day sounds very tricky. But looking for 10-15 minutes sounds more doable, right?
Those are the small chunks of time you might just waste them, if you are not aware of the fact that it can be turned into Mini Me Time!
What can you do in Mini Me Time?
So rather than waiting for 60 minutes which will never come, let’s fill up your Mini Me Time by small 10 – 15mins activities which would enlighten your days.
You might feel like “10 minutes of selfcare doesn’t make difference…” but it DOES.
At the end of the day, you have a positive attitude toward yourself with the small pride that you did take some time for yourself, not just for your work or family.
Let’s take time and list up some activities you can actually do in short period of time. So that you don’t loose your precious Mini Me Time, thinking of what to do.
Things you can do in 5 mins
- A few squats to pump up my heart beat
- Head massage (& listen to relaxing song)
- Foot massage to get ready for latter half of the day
- Reflect the day before and write down 3goodthings
- Send message to old friends who I want to catch up
- Review my Wish List for the year to see if any item can be done this weekend
5 minutes seems very short, but if you actually think about the things you can do, there are some exercises, journaling, or planning you can do!
Things you can do in 15 mins
- Pilates or Yoga session (many Youtube video available)
- Read the book I’ve been postponing
- Listen to Podcast
- Try 10 minutes meditation
- Brain dump in my journal
- Call friends for quick catch up
When you have 15 minutes, there are so many things you can actually do! Don’t you feel like you don’t need 60 minutes selfcare time, which we all long for?
Also, creating “Not To Do list” helps you to create more time and space in your day. Please check the article on Not To Do list.
Why I emphasize it’s important to create Not-to-do list – Minimalish Journal (happy-morning.com)
What we have learnt through this activity
In my journaling workshop, we have worked together to look for the small times & created list of things we want to do in Mini Me Time.
What was interesting is, most people had a long list of 5 minutes activities, compared to 15mins of 30mins activity. It means, to take care of yourself, you can do very many things within 5 minutes.
5 minutes are hiding everywhere. Especially, those are filled in with screentime, I guess. But if you decide to do something for yourself, rather than just scrolling, you can do multiple selfcare activities in a day!
Then, in the evening, before you go to bed, you have more positive feeling toward the day you just had. Rather than feeling too exhausted that you couldn’t do anything for yourself, you can count one or two mini nice things you did for you.
Enjoy your days with small Me time here and there
Spending quality time for yourself is not too difficult, when you shift your mindset.
If you are looking for an hour long precious time, it is. You will be sacrificing your sleep or family time to get that one hour, and it will never happen.
However, small chunks of moment are here and there if you start looking for them intentionally.
Let’s not waste time on unnecessary activities. But let’s be creative to make some small time for yourself and fill in the small time with some fitness or mindfulness or fun activities.
These small 5-10 minutes will definitely change your life to a positive one!
