Why Quiet Time Really Matters (And How to Find it)

I have been all about quiet time lately. In fact, my current go-to meditation on Headspace is called Alone Time and I look forward to the ten-minutes every afternoon. Loving this post by Maxie today!!

Why Quiet Time Really Matters (And How to Find it)

Guest post by Maxie McCoy

We are living in the midst of so much – So much information. So many people. So many ideas. So many plans. It’s completely nonstop. When we open up our phones we’re thrown into a vortex of constant everything. When we’re at school and at work…same thing. It can feel like life is going super fast at all times, and we’re just trying to keep up.

But we want to do more than keep up. We want to live. Really live. And feel like we’re present both to what’s happening for us and intentional about how we’re feeling and what we’re up to. When we do that, it’ll help us feel less anxious, less out of control, and less like we’re just a tumbleweed being tossed through this life of ours.

Which is why slowing down to carve out some consistent quiet time is going to be helpful. It’s not always easy, but it’s imperative to make some effort to find it. Quiet time is just that…any amount of time that allows us to be alone, to not have to talk or share or create, to have less information in all forms coming at us, and it gives us time to reflect and decide.

When we’re able to get quiet, so many beneficial things happen. We can hear our own internal voice and get closer to what it is that our gut is saying. This is especially helpful if we need to make important decisions that we’re having a hard time moving through. Quiet time is also just helpful in order to calm down. If we’re feeling tired, or overwhelmed, or overexerted… getting time to be quiet can help.

Quiet time is meant to help you come back to you, and here are a few of my favorite ways to do it especially when finding quiet time is hard:

Get into bed a little bit earlier. And don’t bring your phone into your bed. If you have someone who sleeps with you, get there first. Shut the door. And either just lay there, giving yourself extra time to sleep and contemplate.

Make the most of your shower or bath. Instead of rushing through it in order to get on with your life, slow it down. Maybe soak in the bath or lay down in the shower. It’s one of the few places no one bothers us. So use it. And let yourself have at least half an hour of nothing else going on.

Sit in your car. Seriously! Plan to get somewhere a little early so you can sit back and listen to some tunes and have no one bother you. Your car can be a little armory of quiet time if you’re intentional with it.

Schedule a you night. It’s so crazy how much our calendars will fill up if we let them. We’ll go from an open week to literally not a single night free if we let it. But we mustn’t let it. Pick a night each week if you can that is yours and only yours. So you can sit on the couch. So you can do nothing. So you can turn it all off and be with yourself.

Quiet time isn’t the easiest thing to find. But there’s a reason schools schedule it for the kids because we’re sensitive little beings who need it! So bring it back into your life and watch how the ease returns when you do.

For more great advice in coming back to yourself, read Maxie’s book You’re Not Lost.