The Gift of Time and How To Use It

How many times have you said something like “I wish there were more hours in the day”, or “I don’t have enough time to get everything done”, or “I have too much to do”? I know I say something like this probably every day, or at least every other day!

Then the other day I saw a post on social media talking about The Gift of Time many of us have been given and it made me stop and think.

Things are pretty stressful in the world right now with the COVID-19 outbreak. Where I live in Calgary, Canada schools have been closed, my gym is closed, movie theaters are closed, and a lot of people are being asked to stay home from work.  

So we are sitting at home, with nothing to do, and we are being constantly bombarded with messages in the news and social media about how crazy things are! And our brains are freaking out! 

Our brains are really good at getting into panic mode in this type of situation. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, we don’t have a lot of control over our lives, and we are constantly being hit with messages in the media that the world is ending. No wonder we are stressed! 

That’s why this post about The Gift of Time I saw really hit me. I thought to myself, what a great way to get my brain out of panic mode.  

All these things are happening that we can’t control, but the silver lining is we have been forced to take a step back from our busy lives. We can’t go out and do anything, but we have the time we have been asking for for years! 

We have the time to play board games with our family, or snuggle on the couch and watch a movie. 

We have the time to tackle that project at home we’ve been putting off. Maybe that’s cleaning out a storage room, or organizing family photos (those are both on my list). 

When we focus on everything that is out of our control right now we just fuel our brain’s panic.  

Or we can shift our brain’s focus the what we have been given. The Gift of Time.  

So pull out that list of projects around the home you always put off. Round up the kids, and clean out that garage or whatever is on your list.  

Your brain will feel calmer from keeping busy and distracted, and you will have the added bonus of getting an extra project done!