07 | creating time for friends

Something that is so important to your self care is ensuring that you have time with your friends and loved ones. Going through daily life we get so “busy” that this often slips to the wayside. It’s important to have time to get our things done, to spend time alone and to make sure you have time with your friends doing things that you enjoy.

07-creating-time-for-your-friends-for-self-care-01.jpg

This is an interesting topic for me and something that I often don’t make a priority in my life for various reasons. I grew up an only child and I’m a bit of an introvert and because of those two things, I don’t mind spending time alone. In fact, I like it. I spend a lot of time with my children and family and with work related things so adding in time for friends (that’s not sitting beside a basketball court or on a pool deck or in the stands at the football stadium) is often fairly low on my list. Not because I don’t love my friends or because I don’t enjoy doing things with them…but because not everything fits in a day.

Going through my photos looking for an image to use in this post showed me two things. One…I don’t take enough (or hardly any) photos of myself with my friends (gotta work on that asap) and two…I don’t do nearly enough things with my friends. Those two things need to change.

HOW TO CREATE TIME FOR YOUR FRIENDS

  1. Use the opportunity while at practices or games to get to know people or to go enjoy time with friends. Every afternoon while your kids have swim practice go enjoy some alone time with a bestie and talk and laugh and have fun. Need to use most of that time for catching up on errands? Invite a friend along or set aside one of those practices a week for a designated coffee date with a buddy. Have a far away game or event that your kids are going to? Carpool together and enjoy the ride catching up with each other.

  2. Take a class together - is there a subject you’re interested in? Look into taking a class or a workshop with some friends. Something that’s purely for fun or something educational. Just because we’re adults doesn’t mean we should stop learning. Always wanted to become a florist? Look into your local shop and see if they offer classes. Looking to become a healthier cook at home? There’s a class for that somewhere.

  3. Go get your hair or nails done together. It might sound silly, but if you choose to do those things anyway, bring a friend along. Going to pick out new glasses? Bring a friend. Need a new couch for the living room? Take a friend and go sit on a thousand of them before bringing your family along.

  4. Workout together - either in a class or out walking/running etc. These things that you need for yourself, they probably need too. Get out there together and work on improving yourselves. Also great for keeping you accountable to your goals!

  5. Try something new. Ask your friends about something that they’ve always wanted to try or to learn or somewhere they’ve always wanted to go. Go exploring your city or your state together. Chances are your friends have interests that are similar to yours but they might have ideas that you’ve never thought about before.

Why is time with friends so important?

If you’re an extrovert it may never occur to you that you need to create time with your friends. This may be something that you do all of the time and you love it (and maybe you might need to work on finding time for yourself). But if you’re someone that loves their alone time you may think you don’t need to worry about creating time for your friends. But this quality time with friends - either in person, over the phone or even via text - is vital to your self care. You learn more about yourself when you’re spending time with your friends. You get to explore and try new things. You have an ear that can help you when you’re down or needing input on decisions in your life. And you get the opportunity to help others when they are in need. Be a help to your friends, give them the love and support that they need.

07-creating-time-for-your-friends-for-self-care-02.jpg

So I challenge you (and myself) to set up some time with friends this week. What can you go out and do together? And…get a photo or two. It’s important to your children for them to see you out enjoying life.

xo,
c