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Professional Development Opinion

Take Time For You!

By AAEE — August 18, 2015 1 min read
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Just in case this is the first blog post you’re reading this month, we are focusing on “life experiences that every graduate should know that will help him or her throughout their life.” This week I am going to focus on a personal experience that happened recently that led to the title for this week’s post “Take Time for You!”

For the past month, my life has been crazy. I moved into a new house, I had a big event with one of my children, I have several big projects coming up at work, my in-laws were in town for 10 days, etc. I felt that I was so far behind and could not catch up. I have been staying up late, getting up early, and working from home. No matter what I do, I don’t feel like I can get caught up anywhere in my life. Last night as I was driving home from work thinking about everything I needed to do, I got super discouraged. Then I realized that what I really need to do was take time for myself. I fixed dinner for everyone and then went outside to weed my garden. The kids were fine doing their own thing and I was doing something outside that didn’t require me to think, work quickly or stress at all. It was marvelous! I stayed outside for about an hour. This was an hour that I could have been unpacking boxes from our recent move or doing something required of me from work or my family, but at that point, I didn’t care.

I know I missed out on a potential hour of getting stuff done on my “to do list.” However, the rewards I have received today from taking one hour for myself cannot be measured. I have been so much more productive at work and the tension that has been building for a month is tremendously lower. I know that I have deadlines coming up. I know that my home life is crazy because school just started for my kids. I also know that I can handle it. I reiterated in my mind how important it is to take time for myself.

So, as life gets crazy and you don’t have time to fit everything in to your schedule, remember you will be more productive and your life will run smoother if you schedule in “time for you.”

Ali Threet, Associate Director

Career Services

Dixie State University

St. George, UT

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