“Me” time.

What is “Me” time? Well, it is what it sounds like…time dedicated to yourself. Only yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re introverted or extraverted, every person needs some alone time. We all lead busy lives and sometimes we forget that we need to stop for a second and think about ourselves.

Being constantly occupied with life’s duties such as work, family, friends, studying, and everything else can lead to stress. Even if we enjoy being busy, it’s bound to get overwhelming at times. There was one point when I was in my last semester of my degree; I was studying, working, volunteering, trying to get blog photoshoots done, and in the beginning I thought, “I’m an independent woman…look at all the things I’m getting done!”

Eventually I started feeing like I bit off more than I could chew and the bags under my eyes started forming. I was also not happy where I was living, so some stress stemmed from that issue too. Anyways, I started staying up super late, getting some minor headaches, feeling tired all the time, finding it nearly impossible to wake up early, sometimes eating a lot, sometimes having no appetite, and it also felt very hard to concentrate on something that was right in front of me, like finishing a blog post. These are all symptoms that come from stress.

Some more are:

• sore neck and/or muscles
• chest pain
• fatigue (physically and mentally)
• easily irritated
• negative thoughts
• anxiety

I didn’t experience all of the above but I listed those for anyone that might be wondering if they could be suffering from stress. Stress can cause many long-term issues and one of them is that it can ruin creativity overtime. This isn’t at all one of the biggest problematic results of stress, but if you notice yourself finding it hard to think of creative ideas, you might be starting to stress out.

**Warning: the amount of times I’m going to be saying “Me” time gets pretty high from here on haha**

Finding “Me” time is a great way to relieve yourself from stress. You don’t need to make “Me” time for very long, even 30 minutes a day, or a few days a week is enough. It’s really relative to each person.

If you are constantly dedicating all your time to your job or your family, you especially need to have some time to yourself. We might feel guilty if we aren’t being productive, but that’s only if you abuse “Me” time and it turns into “Lazy” time. Without time to yourself, you’ll start feeling exhausted, rushed, and like you aren’t enjoying life. “Me” time is also meant to be spent alone. Not with friends, not with family, but alone…mostly. Taking an art class on your own that has other people in it still counts! You can use this time to gather your thoughts, find yourself in what you’re doing, or just relax. So go do things by yourself!

What are you supposed to do in “Me” time?

This is for YOU to decide. I recommend you make it something you enjoy. Some things on my “Me” time list include: going to the gym (which I personally find much better alone), painting my nails, writing in my journal, going for a walk, cooking something new, or drinking some wine and indulging in a comedy TV show or movie. I don’t do all of these very often, but I ALWAYS save a pocket of time in my day for the gym. That’s my go-to “Me” time. I always feel great after a good workout, and I know it’s also benefiting me physically and mentally.

A way to find things to do for “Me” time is to make a list of things you enjoy doing. You might have forgotten how much you love reading, or writing, or painting artwork! Make a list and from there, you have created a “Me” time bucket list!

Some easy things to do during “Me” time can be:

• take a yoga class alone
• take a hot bath
• learn to play a musical instrument
• go for a run or a drive
• go shopping alone
• plant a garden

Speaking of regular “Me” time, you can also have special “Me” time, which are activities you wouldn’t normally do, like a solo road trip! These require more planning, but give you something great to look forward to. They are perfect during weeks where you can’t have regular “Me” time, so you can save it all for something really fun! Some ideas are:

• a day trip to a nearby city or nature location (in Alberta this could be the mountains!)
• a full spa day, massages, facial, nails, and all!
• take that day-long course that you’ve always wanted to (for me it’s a photography course!)
• glam yourself up and do a professional photoshoot
• pack up some snacks and go for a long hike
• go to a festival! (I went to Heritage Days in Edmonton by myself last summer and ate ALL the food! So fun!)

If you have any more suggestions of “Me” time things, put them in the comments below!

I’d like to thank Michel from Ampersand Grey Photography for the photos above. You will be seeing many, many, many more from her shoot with me in the upcoming blog posts! She’s an Alberta Wedding photographer based here in Edmonton and is truly fun to work with. You can click on her logo below to check out her website!