The "Me Time" Myth

Me Time.  Sounds Simple.  It's time that I spend with...well no one.  Except me. Or with people that happen to be sharing in the same activity that I happen to be doing.   Time spent doing something for myself. 
"Me time."

Relaxation.  Pampering. Accomplishment.  Or just nothing.  Doing nothing counts, too.  A teeny bit selfish. 

But then I have to catch up with the things that I don't do when I am enjoying me-time.  Hmm.  So really when I make the choice to do something for me, I am conscientiously choosing to NOT do something I should be doing for someone else...or with someone else. So the myth is just that.   Generally I dabble in  very little me-time for that very reason.

This gym thing I'm doing.  It has to be me-time.  It is like mandatory me-time.  It has to be.  The three musketeers, my kids (and the name of a luscious candy bar) would be unwelcome at the establishment where I am working out.  The kids AND the candy bar.  Not allowed.  Well...no one has said NO KIDS, but it is really no place for them to hang. It's an industrial gym space.  And if you saw the way most of these fit 'n trim people looked, you would know it is really no place for a candy bar either. 

Scheduled me-time.  I have never been very good at that.  I have had my mid-wife, hair stylist and childless friends all tell me that I should schedule time for myself - as if for an appointment.  But I always seem racked with guilt if I feel like something I'm doing takes away from someone else.  Or...OR-I find myself preempting the me-time session doing things like making dinner for everyone ahead of time...even when I'm not going to be eating it.  Crazy.  And it's not my husband's fault.  He is all for the go-out-and-take-a-break adventure with one of my friends or solo.  But I seem to sense a barely palpable feeling that maybe he wishes I wouldn't go. 

Is it me?  No.  I think not.  I saw a neighborhood mom tonight at Stop and Shop doing her weekly grocery shopping at 9pm.  "I just put my kids to bed and now I thought it would be a good time to shop." That could have been me-time if she left the putting-of-the-kids-to-bed to someone else and gone shopping by herself.

So my goal after this challenge is through in a few weeks is to give myself the green light to give myself that me time without the guilt.  Because I do feel better for giving myself time to focus on feeling better and getting stronger.  I deserve it.

We all do.