Time. It’s a teeny-tiny word with a huge impact. It causes stress and tension, heartache, and turmoil. “I don’t have time for this. I don’t have time for that. There isn’t time after work.” We often feel like a rope being pulled back-and-forth between a tug-of-war.

On one hand we’ve got to take care of family and go to work. On the other, we want to engage in healthy behaviors. We’d like to exercise and make our own foods, but there just isn’t enough time!

How does a busy nurse who works 12 hour shifts feel by the 13th hour? Exhausted! When does the nurse who works back-to-back nights have time to get to Whole Foods? Never since they’ve got to sleep any chance they’ve got! What does the nurse do when she wants to go to the gym but she gets called in for overtime? She gets pissed off; that’s what!

I hear you. I’ve been there. Nurses have so little time for themselves. With our busy roles, 24/7 positions, and caregiver lives outside of work it seems that there is no room in the day for us.

Now while I agree with you… and I totally do… there is another school of thought. So before you start throwing things at me through your computer screen, just take a deep slow breath. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe. Now with an open-mind check out one of my favorite quotes of all time:

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” -H. Jackson Brown, Jr. quotes

Alright, read it again if you have to. Relax. Breathe. Let those irritated feelings go. I know this quote can be quite a shock if you are struggling with juggling it all. I know you’re busy. You’ve got a ton going on and take care of many, many people. I hear you- you have bills, children, and responsibilities. Just take a deep breath, read the quote again, and let go.

24 hours in one day. We’ve all got it. So why are we so stressed? Why does it feel like we’re always rushing? How come there isn’t enough time for things we want to do?

There are many, many reasons for our troubles with time. There are lots of things I can say in response to the questions above- in fact too many for this 750 word article. But that is what we have all month for. For now, let me list some of the factors that go into our difficulties with our time.

• Distractors. Certain things get in the way of our day because they just pull us away from what’s important. In addition to external distractors we also grapple with internal chatter, monkey mind, and incessant thoughts. Being distracted, externally or internally, causes us to slow down or get off course from what we had wanted to get done.
• Priorities. I know. Kids, work, and commitments are all responsibilities are must take priority. I just welcome you to begin to ponder where is your own health on your priority list? How high do you rank yourself on your scale of important “things”? Has wealth, income, or money gotten overly important to you? Do you have to work all of that overtime to pay off credit card bills and loans? Are material objects more of a priority than your own health is?
• Fighting the flow. A lot of times we have a lot to get done. But we are approaching it all wrong. There are things that we enjoy. There are tasks, skills, and activities we love to do. Instead of forcing things it will save us time to follow the natural flow and do those things we value first and foremost.
• One-sided balance. This is one that nurses struggle with a lot. We want to help, care, give, and do. We are always saying “yes” to other people. Our give-receive relationship is off-balanced. We’ve got to listen to our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits and set boundaries from time-to-time.

Over the next few posts we will delve deeper into each of the aspects above. We will discover more ways to use our time resourcefully. We will realize that we do have enough time in every single one of our days… it just is a matter of how we use it!