Activity

Focus time—
To me this means being intentional and spending time on activities to work on reaching goals or work that is important or necessary. The benefits are reaching goals and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with that. I feel like I spend a lot of time dreaming and thinking about what I want my life to be but not nearly enough time focused on the action it takes to get there. I would rate myself a 3. I had a week where I was setting a timer on my phone and consciously choosing an amount of time for various activities I needed to do to focus and that worked, but I haven’t done that since that one week.

Play time-
I see this as being spontaneous, trying new things, doing things I enjoy, going with the flow and enjoying life. The benefits are getting recharged and rewarded, and what’s the point of life if we don’t enjoy it, right? I would rate myself an 8. I love spending time with my cousin’s kids, going to see live music, trying new things in the city, etc.. Now that I’m not glued to the same barstool every night I find myself out exploring a lot more activities.

Connecting time-
To me this means making meaningful connections with other people, being present in the moment with the people around me, putting down my phone and engaging with others. The benefits are feeling love and connection. I like the part about connecting with nature too. I started hiking here and there after I got sober and it’s so refreshing to spend time in nature, like natural meditation. I would rank myself a 5 heading upward. I definitely feel like I am more connected now that I’m sober but its still hard for me to open up and engage with people sometimes.

Physical time-
For me, physical time means exercise, specifically running, Orangetheory fitness, lifting weights, and sometimes hiking and riding a bike. The benefits are and have been a clear head, losing weight and a healthier body, definitely pulls me out of depression at times. I would rank myself a 6 right now. While I have been more consistent with getting physical activity the past 6-8 months than probably ever in my life, this past December and this month have been a struggle and I’ve been resisting it even though I know how great it makes me feel. I’m partially blaming the arctic tundra we’ve had here, but I know that’s no excuse. 🙂

Time in-
This one is interesting to me. I spend sooo much time in my head ruminating and overthinking, so I noticed that in the healthy mind platter it says “quietly reflect internally”. I think the benefits are getting to know oneself so that you can make self-honoring choices and be true to yourself. I would rate myself a 5 or 6 because a lot of my “time in” can still be self-judgement or worrying about what others think or are going to do. But I like the idea of shifting toward quiet reflecting.

Down time-
To me down time is giving yourself permission to relax and not be working on or toward something, but just letting the mind relax and wander. I think the benefits are just giving the brain a break but also time to daydream and visualize and imagine. I would rate myself a 6 because I think I overdo down time. I feel like sometimes I check out with technology and spend too much time on down time when some of it should be focus time, and then I beat myself up for mindlessly scrolling for two hours…

Sleep time-
For me this means getting good quality sleep and honoring my body when it’s ready to go to bed or needs a nap to recharge. The benefits are I can focus more the next day, I’m in a better mood, I’m more likely to exercise the next day and I make better food choices. I just all around feel better when I get good sleep. I would rate myself a 9. When I got sober the first couple of months I let myself sleep as much as I wanted, and felt like I was catching up on 20 years worth of sleep. Now I’m pretty good about listening to my mind and body and going to sleep when I need to. I can tell the difference when I want to take a nap because I”m genuinely tired and when I’m just avoiding. And I’ve improved not eating before bed and drinking less coffee late in the day which helps me sleep better too.

So reflecting on this I’m basically a pro at play time and sleep time which means I’m a 17 year old in a 42 year old’s body, lol. I definitely struggle with balance, and love the idea of checking in with these areas to make sure I’m spreading my time around in all of them.

Bev, thanks for introducing this, I think is going to be a great way to continue to grow and balance and thrive.