Five Minutes Could Change Everything

A lot can happen in five minutes: a phone call, a text, signing a petition, opening a door for someone, a new life enters the world, someone walks out a door, a hug.  The list is endless. Yet, how often do you click into your rut and the daily grind and forget that you can impact a life (including your own) in less than five minutes. I have a friend from college that sends out an email every time one of our suitemates has a birthday. A quick, group email to say hello and your life matters, have a great day. She’s been doing this for over 15 years! She uses her precious time and life force to recognize each one of us and our importance in the world...and it probably takes less than five minutes. But, it changes our day and has been impacting our lives for years.Earlier this week, I was bogged down with to-do’s and annoyed with the amount of emails I was receiving about community and state issues and deadlines for voting and signing petitions. I rapidly checked boxes to mass-delete all of them and then I paused, took a breath, and set a timer. These emails contained issues that impact my community, the land, my family, and my friends. I know we’re all busy and trying to get through each day. But if we mass-delete the things that cause us to think and question and problem-solve, that take up five minutes of our time, than we’ve just abdicated a little more of our power and our voice to the masses...because “I have too many things to do today”. And that, my friends, is how we let our spirits, relationships, communities, and sense of belonging slowly die, death by a thousand cuts, one ignored issue after another.I set a five-minute timer and created a boundary/limit AND time to respond to some of those emails. I thought about pros and cons, what matters to me and generations to come, and how my small acts matter.  Yours do, too.This week, take five minutes to reach out, send a text or email to say thanks to someone, sign a petition, go vote on your local issues, buy a stranger a coffee, whatever suites your fancy.Then, take five minutes to take care of yourself. Grab a pen and paper and do the coaching activity in the video below to make a little more space for the REAL you.  Seriously, you’ll feel better and the world will be a better place with a more authentic version of you in it!  In the comments, let us know what you are doing with your five minutes this week.