Articles

Making the most of your free time

29/03/2017

As a carer, you should be entitled to free time every day. If this is not the case, then you may find yourself with time off on the weekend. It is very easy to find that your time off has been spent with your phone against your ear, and that you go back to your client frustrated and dissatisfied. 

There are some things that you can do to take advantage of the free time you have, whether it is in small blocks or whole days.

While shopping is fun, there are times when you will just have had enough of walking around the same shops. Time for a change!

Change your state of mind. Think about your time off in a different way. This is your time to spend as you please. You should never think of time off as boring or dull. Just by changing your own attitude towards free time, you will find that you can look forward to it.

Get fit. Normally a carer has two hours off a day. This is enough for a good walk. If you are fortunate enough to have a fitness centre nearby, then consider joining it. You may only go every other day, but you will feel better and it will give you another focus. Sometimes there are local yoga classes that may fit your free time. Find out if there are any parks where you can walk, put on your walking shoes, and get going!

Read a new book. Take yourself and your new book off to a park (if it is good weather) or into a coffee shop. This is your opportunity to catch up on all those books that you keep meaning to read, but never get around to. Remember that towns abound in charity shops and you can pick up good book for under a pound at most of them. When you are finished, return them for someone else to enjoy.

Offer your services. If dog walking is what you do, then ask around in the immediate neighbourhood and see if anyone needs a dog walker. Good for the dog, and good exercise for you.

Learn a new language. If you spend just one hour a day learning another language, within a year you will be able to hold a simple conversation with someone in that language. There are many online programs which offer lessons for free or very little money, so if learning a language appeals to you, then check it out.

Get viewing. Unless you are in a very remote part of the country, you will always find something that is worth seeing. Pop into the local library – or better still – look the area up on the internet. See what you can find to go and see. You may be able to walk to some places, or take a bus to others. Charge your phone, and take some pictures. The country is full of the most wonderful buildings and parks where you can easily spend an hour or two. Perhaps there is a museum in the town? Stop in and have a look around.

There is no need to think of your time off as a waste! You will find that if you do something different as often as you can. You will start to change your whole way of thinking, and begin to look forward to that time off.