Dear Friends,

I don’t know about you, but life has been busy lately.

As soon as we got the “all clear” and the world reopened, things seemed to ramp up very quickly. Added to that, it’s always a busy time of the year. School just ended, summer has officially kicked off, the calendar is filling up – fast - and you find yourself trying to find even one weekend where you are not committed to something already. What a change from last summer! Don’t be mad at me for saying so, but there was a nice sort of calm when we were all locked down that I kind of miss.

It’s as if someone has hit the reset button and life has returned to, dare I say, normal? We are living in a post-apocalyptic world where last year - even just six months ago – seems like a bad dream. All we have to show for it are drawers, desks, and cars full of masks (some fun and creative, others just the one-use throw away kind). Remnants of hand sanitizer in every nook and cranny, and some fresh new signs on the doors of businesses that say, “no mask required for fully vaccinated people”. It’s kind of funny to think of an alien were to visit us right now, looked around, would they be able to figure out what we just went through?

With all this return to normalcy, something else has happened. We forgot how to slow down. We have quickly moved on from quiet nights at home with our families, game nights, zoom get togethers, takeout, and all the home projects we vowed to finally do. Now we fill up free time with friends, shopping (and trying on clothes), dinners out, and making up for time lost. There is so much noise now, I fear that as a society we have forgotten that we did without so much, and we were ok. Maybe in some ways, even better for it. I went through one quarantine and while at the time I thought it was the worst thing we could go through; I find myself looking back at my time in house arrest with some longing. Where can we find the balance of an overflowing life to one of solitude. Neither one is much fun.

This may sound odd coming from an extrovert like me, but my favorite time of the day is weekdays from about 6:20 a.m. until 6:40 a.m. Twenty minutes every day that I spend by myself. It’s my “after the gym, after a shower” time of the day that I set aside for myself. I take my very large cup of coffee, snuggle up in bed and take 20 minutes for me. Sometimes I watch part of a show, look through my social media accounts, glance at my calendar for the day, or text friends. Unfortunately, not all of my friends are morning birds like me and I sometimes forget how early it is, but they are good sports about it.

I look forward to my 20 minutes every single day.

It’s not much, but it’s just enough time to get me in the right mindset to face the day. During these 1,200 seconds of the morning, I am not worrying about the kids (they are sleeping anyway), my husband, what is sitting on my desk at the office, bills, chores, or anything that is laying ahead of me.

Do you take time like this for yourself? If not, I highly recommend it. Twenty minutes may not seem like a lot, but it’s just enough to take a deep breathe and get ready for your day. Think about what twenty minutes a day could do for you.

I like to take mine in the morning, but maybe you need yours at the end of the day? When you get home, after a long day, before you work on dinner, what the kids or your spouse needs to talk to you about. Maybe it’s after everyone else is in bed and you get a quiet home all to yourself. The point is that we all need to find some time each day that is just for us.

It’s ok to say, “that needs to wait” or “I’ll clean that up later” and take this time for you! Unless it’s life threatening (or job threatening), it can wait, I promise. Tell yourself that as you look at piles of clothes that need to be put away, the mess on the kitchen counter, the animals that need to be fed, the emails piling up in your inbox or the food that needs to be prepared. It can all wait.

I didn’t realize that my family had figured out my early morning “secret”. I really thought they were all too busy with their own things to notice that nearly every day I hid away for 20 minutes. A small amount of time that I snuck in the morning while everyone else was otherwise occupied. It wasn’t until Rachael recently said to me “What time do you just sit in your room and do nothing? I need to shower in the morning.” It surprised me that she had noticed my secret “me-time”! Kids notice more than we think they do (also something good to remember).

As we launch into an amazing summer filled with trips, bonfires, visiting family and friends, travel and catching up on so many things, try to find time to center yourself. This is something everyone can do, and everyone should find time for. For me, 20 minutes is the perfect amount of time. You need to decide for yourself what you need and what works best for you.

I am often asked how I am able to manage so many things. That my life seems so busy, I am involved in so many things between work, volunteering, friends; “How do you do it all?” is a common question I get.

While I don’t have the exact answer, I know that part of the reason is because I know how to take time for myself. It may seem like all I do is work and run around but I find ways to slow down and take time just for me. Sometimes it’s only those 20 minutes in the morning, but it’s enough.

Find your 20 minutes and see how differently you face the day.

Be well, Chenango.

~ Kerri