8 Reasons Why Having Me-Time Should Be Part of Every Dad's Healthy Habits
8 Reasons Why Having Me-Time Should Be Part of Every Dad's Healthy Habits
Creating personal space or what is commonly known as “me time” is as equally important to dads as it is to moms. Those downtimes allow us to recover from stress and the pressures of life, giving us renewed energy and vigor, and the tenacity to face the day-to-day challenges.
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8 Reasons Why Having Me-Time Should Be Part of Every Dad's Healthy Habits
The value of me-time: why practice it?
According to WebMD, allotting some time for yourself should form part of your overall healthy habit. By taking control of one’s happiness and health, their stress level will be lowered, and have more energy.
Some months ago, I saw in a parenting Facebook group a photo of a man playing video games. It was actually posted by his wife and came with a caption that read (not verbatim) “this is my husband playing video games.”
That caption got my attention because I thought it was from a tired wife who is about to rant and whine about her husband’s incessant video games. Not that I love to read about bickering couples but the frankness of the opening line really drew my interest.
The context of the post turned out differently though and I was glad that I read it because it contained a wealth of knowledge. The post happened to be a wife’s tribute to her husband who has nothing but tireless and responsible.
According to the woman, she allowed her husband to have an hour or two of uninterrupted time in front of his gaming computer. It’s a way for him to relax, she said, and she would rather have it that way than for her husband to go out and have a drink or hang out with other people. It was also the man’s choice to stay home with his family.
After the husband’s alone time, the wife said that he seemed more energetic and generally in a good mood. It was an act that is so simple – letting the husband alone with his hobby – but had a big impact. In hindsight, I found it to be a sweet and touching gesture.
Of course, this is just one side of the story. In a short Instagram video, I saw a husband talking about why it’s also vital to let our wives have their me-time for their overall well-being. It works both ways and, in the end, will be beneficial for the husband, the wife, and their family.
The story I narrated above is just one example. Me time can be anything from reading a book to writing, and even whipping up a nice recipe. It can be as short as a 15-minute nap to as long as, say, a break of an hour or two. Whatever will work for you without sacrificing the welfare of your children.
The health benefits of having me-time
Me-time is basically rest. We all need rest to recover from the daily pressure from work, from society, and, yes, even from our family.
Here are some of the biggest benefits of learning to stop, taking things slow, and having some personal time:
1. It increases your warmth and sensitivity
When we are swamped with so many things to do, we may oftentimes find ourselves to be short-tempered. That also applies to us when we are at home. When we have numerous tasks to think about, we may easily lose our cool when our kids become noisy or raucous.
In ideal situations, it’s easy to dismiss the chaos because, well, they are children anyway. Otherwise, it can be a source of frustration. What can we do? Take a break, do not think about the tasks at hand, and focus on something else. It can do wonders for you.
Do you notice that when you take some time off from your family, you begin to miss them? Having short alone times have the same effect. For example, when we take a break from taking care of our children, we become more empathic upon resuming our responsibilities with them.
2. It clears the mind
When we do something different from our routine, we create distractions. When we are distracted from our chores, our minds start to clear and we begin to think better and more efficiently.
Notice that when we resume our daily task, we become more concentrated and more attentive to details.
3. It increases productivity
Related to the previous benefit, alone time can help increase our productivity. Even if you are not going through a rough time, your overwhelming responsibilities can affect your output. Thus, have a few minutes all to yourself to regain your concentration.
When we have good focus, we tend to do more will less effort and minimal or no mistakes. We may not be able to do everything all at once but we can accomplish a significant amount of tasks.
4. It can stimulate creativity
When we are relaxed, our mind is free to think and soar. That can help us flood our minds with various thoughts that are totally unrelated to our daily routine.
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That’s a good way to trigger creative thoughts when you are trying to write, draw, paint, or even make crafts.
5. It can help you sort out your plans
Having several things going on in your head will never be to your advantage. You will not be able to finish a task when you are saddled by numerous details to think about.
As such, stop for a while and have some time for yourself to lay out your plans. You will be amazed by the many good ideas that will pop up in your head.
6. It can help strengthen your relationship
There are occasions when you just feel like your relationship can be a rough boat ride. That’s alright, we are just humans anyway and we go through challenges.
Instead of forcing yourself to sort things out concerning your relationship, why don’t you stop for a while, focus on yourself instead, concentrate on your favorite hobby for some time, and then come back and talk to your spouse.
Oftentimes, you will realize that your renewed energy will bring in favorable results.
7. It can help you discover more about yourself
It’s easy to assume that we already know so much about ourselves. However, in solitude, we may even find out more about ourselves such as a hidden talent, a new interest, or even a long-forgotten dream.
We can opt to try out these new discoveries and may also form part of our personal time.
8. It can restore your excitement
The fact that we are looking forward to doing something exciting will bring us a lot of excitement and happiness. In turn, it will give us a positive outlook and generally improve our mood with the thought that there is always something awesome waiting for us beyond a bad day.
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Epilogue
Having personal time is healthy, both for dads and moms. When we are alone and away from the pressures of life, we can recover both our physical and mental well-being, we improve our relationship with our spouse and children, and we generally become happier.