Are You on Your Own Calendar?

Looking at your calendar right now, your appointments are likely filled with demands from your career, your family, and your endless to-do list. But where are you? In this episode, we talk about the power of making literal, non-negotiable appointments with yourself to protect your mind and body. Learn how to stop treating your time like an afterthought and start treating your health and wellness like the valuable asset it is. 

Ready to reclaim your calendar? 

If this episode resonated with you and you need help sorting through what’s cluttering your mental and physical space, gain clarity, and identify your next steps, I’d love to support you. You can learn more about and book your private 60-minute Clarity Reset Session today. 

👉 Click here: https://www.otanthiawb.com/clarity-reset

Transcript

I want you to do something for me. If you aren’t driving, I want you to pull out your phone, open your calendar app, or find your physical planner, and take a look at your upcoming week.

What do you see?

You might see a doctor’s appointment for your child, a mandatory staff meeting at 9:00 a.m. on a Tuesday, maybe a reminder to check in on a loved one or make that necessary phone call. You might see some scheduled time to run errands.

Your calendar is a beautiful, highly organized roadmap of how you show up for the entire world.

But let me ask you a question: Where are you on that calendar?

Is there a single block of time that has your name on it? An appointment where the only objective is for you to breathe, eat a hot meal without looking at a screen, or just sit in silence and do nothing?

If you’re like most high-achieving, responsible women, the answer is likely no. Because while we’re great at scheduling appointments for everyone and everything else, we treat time for ourselves like an afterthought. And that can take a toll, because when you’re always last on your list, your needs are often what gets neglected.

And that cannot keep being the pattern.

You’re listening to Making Space for Me, a podcast for women who carry a lot, give a lot, and are learning how to prioritize their needs and create a way of living that truly supports their well-being, even in the midst of everyday demands. I’m your host, Otanthia Williams-Brady, and welcome.

As a nurse practitioner, I’ve seen what can result when women consistently ignore the maintenance that their minds, bodies, and lives actually need. Therefore, I’ve come to understand the significance of treating yourself like a high-value investment.

So let’s think about how we treat expensive investments. If you owned a luxury vehicle, you wouldn’t just use it continuously with no maintenance and hope that it doesn’t break down on you. You would have a strict, scheduled maintenance plan. You would literally put the service dates on the calendar, and you wouldn’t skip them, because you understand the importance of regular maintenance and making sure your vehicle runs to the best of its ability.

Yet when it comes to your own mind and body, you tell yourself, “I’ll take a break when this assignment or project is finished. I’ll go to that appointment when my schedule frees up. Or I’ll rest this weekend if I have time left over after X, Y, and Z.”

Now, friend, let’s be completely honest. You know there is rarely ever time left over, because the world will gladly take every single minute you are willing to give away. And when you only give yourself the worn-out pieces at the end of the day, you are essentially running your engine on empty. You’re racking up a massive debt of chronic self-neglect, and your body is paying the price with tension headaches, anxiety, and just exhaustion.

After enduring my own season of significant burnout and going through all of the things that came with trying to feel like me again, I learned that time for yourself will not miraculously appear. Busy women aren’t just given free time. You have to schedule it. You have to make literal, non-negotiable appointments with yourself.

I’m not talking about booking a weekend spa retreat, though those are nice. I’m talking about micro-appointments built into your actual chaotic, day-to-day life.

When you block out time on your calendar for yourself and your needs, you’re deciding that caring for yourself is an intentional obligation, not a guilty luxury. It’s part of how you steward your health, your energy, your peace, and your capacity to keep showing up well.

So tonight, before you go to bed, I want to invite you to do one simple thing: open your calendar and schedule three 15-minute appointments with yourself for the upcoming week. Label it “Investment,” “Maintenance,” or “Personal Appointment,” or just put your name on it.

I want you to use those 15 minutes however they can best serve you, whether that’s sitting quietly, eating without multitasking, taking a short walk, breathing, praying, journaling, stretching, or simply doing nothing.

The point is not to make the time impressive. The point is to begin practicing the belief that your needs belong on your schedule too.

Now, when you start blocking out your time, your boundaries will be tested almost immediately. Someone will inevitably try to schedule over your block. And when that happens, do not default to chronic overfunctioning. You do not say, “I’m free.” No, you’re not free.

Instead, you look at your calendar and confidently say, “I have a conflicting appointment at that time, but I’m wide open at 2:00 p.m. instead.”

You treat those 15 minutes exactly like you would treat an appointment with your company’s CEO or your doctor. Protect those blocks like your life depends on it, because your health and your peace actually do.

You don’t owe anyone an explanation. You don’t have to tell them that the appointment is just you. You don’t have to justify the appointment, and you don’t have to minimize it by saying it’s not a big deal, because it is a big deal.

The goal is not to fill your calendar with more pressure. The goal is to look at your life honestly and ask, “Does my schedule reflect that I matter too?” And if not, it may be time to make some intentional shifts.

Now, if you’re looking at your calendar and feeling completely overwhelmed because you don’t even know how to begin drawing those boundaries or carving out that space, it may be time to pause and get clear about what changes need to be made.

And that’s why I created the Clarity and Reset Session. It’s a private 60-minute virtual session designed for women who are carrying a lot, feeling mentally cluttered, or struggling to make space for themselves. Together, we sort through what’s blocking your mental and physical space, clarify what needs your attention, and identify realistic next steps so you can move forward with more peace, clarity, and direction.

If you’re interested, the link to book is in the show notes or the episode description.

Like always, I want to thank you for listening to Making Space for Me. I hope this resonated with you. And until next time, continue to be gentle with yourself and keep making space for you.