Eat For You Dietitian

Recent events have made me consider how I manage time for me, alone, and also how the people I care about find time for themselves. Do other people let them have this time to themselves? Sometimes people pleasers are too busy thinking of others that they ignore this. Maybe if someone is demanding of your time, it’s even more important to stay away. I am in a happy relationship with my fiance and we both understand that we need our time too, equally as important as time together. Even more important before you commit to a relationship is that you are content in being in your own space, alone with your thoughts and comfortable with that because you don’t want to be expecting someone else to fill your thoughts and invade your space uncomfortably. 

I’ve previously written about how we can feel present and how often we are ‘on the go’ or have background noise whilst we scroll on our phones that it can be difficult to find this. Someone asked me this week, what have I done for myself, as they could see I was quite stressed and we had a chat as to why I was stressed. It was a question I’ve never been asked before. Have you asked anyone that before?

I have incorporated regular yoga practice as my time, however I also realise that it’s not just stretching, sometimes I find it quite an intense strength workout so I will choose to focus on breathing instead. The instructor in my virtual yoga class won’t know and anyways it’s up to me. It’s not all about touching your toes in case anyone’s wondering. Daily practices for me include my skincare regimen, dog walks without any music/podcasts, although listening to a podcast or audio book is escapism into someone else’s thoughts for a while, writing (although that’s not daily but I have been trying to keep a journal). Sometimes I just end up writing my thoughts to think clearly. Lastly, running is my time. I completed my first pacing experience on Sunday 1st August 2021 as the 2hours 50minutes pacer for London Landmarks Half Marathon. It was the best experience as I ran with a great girl. Before this day, the weekend before I had run just under 18km to make sure I could still run longer distances. I had run to my local parkrun then back home, at my own pace running and walking the whole way. Before I used to have this pressure that if I was going for a run then I could not walk. I would have to stop my garmin watch if I was going to walk as it would slow down my average pace. Who am I comparing to? 

Preparation for pacing the LLHM and completing the LLHM has brought back the love of running for me alone, without thinking about pace because a certain pace does not make you a runner. Running at any pace makes you a runner. 

So let’s find our own white space. Don’t be afraid to ask for it. If you are, then maybe you need it the most.