Finding “Me Time” While Sheltering in Place

When you’re a caregiver, taking better care of yourself allows you to provide better care for the ones you love. This means that making time for YOU should be an essential part of your self-care. Finding your own “me time” allows you to focus on just yourself as a separate individual from your loved ones.

But one of the challenges of this pandemic is that sheltering in place can make it even harder for many people to carve out the quality “me time” they need on a consistent basis. I don’t know about you, but I’m sheltering in place with a lot more people these days. Although I’m used to working from home, having so many more people in my home office space for the past several months has been distracting. I don’t think anyone is working at the same capacity that they did before the pandemic.

For caregivers, it’s always been hard to find “me time” when you’re being pulled in 100 directions, but now it’s even harder. And I know the parents of school-aged kids and young adults are facing all kinds of new challenges during the pandemic. Trying to work at home while parenting and guiding your kids is doubly hard.

So, if you’re having trouble finding quality time for yourself, maybe the Me Time Monday Movement will help. Check out their three steps to help you dedicate some time each week for yourself:

(1) Make a plan. Use Monday to plan when you can find self-care time this week.

(2) Take baby steps. You don’t have to run a marathon this week – you’re already doing that as a caregiver. Look at your Me Time Monday plan as little activities that add up.

(3) Reward and reset yourself every Monday. Make Monday the day to check in with yourself. How are you doing? If Me Time evaporated last week – what can make it happen this week?

Finding time for yourself requires planning and execution, but it doesn’t require a lot of time. It could be five minutes or five hours that you spend being alone, pursuing a hobby, or just getting things done. Whatever it takes to refresh your body, mind, and soul will make you healthier and a better caregiver.

“Me time” should not be thought of solely as leisure activities, but it should be part of an ongoing, consistent health routine. It’s about quality, not quantity, and knowing what you need to do to prioritize YOU.