My Little 10 Minute Investment That Changed Everything

I’m one of *those* people. Someone with a daily quiet time for inspirational reading, prayer, meditation and journaling. I wasn’t always like that. Didn’t have *time* for it. My sister Ginni did it for years and strongly encouraged me to try it. But honestly, I didn’t want to get up an hour earlier to do it. What good could it possibly do?

I’m going to be completely transparent here. For most of my life, I’ve suffered anxiety. I know. How can someone in my business have an issue with anxiety? Trust me, I’ve asked myself the same thing. I will tell you, those things that made me anxious, I did them…afraid…and got through them. And it sucked for me. Full disclosure: much of my condition is associated with thyroid disease, but I can’t totally blame it all on the disease itself. There was “me” in there too. Thyroid disease can be treated, but I knew that some symptoms required extra work on my part instead of relying on thyroid medication to do it all. That’s when I decided to add this holistic approach to what I was already doing.

About 6 years ago, I decided to humor myself and began the morning ritual of a daily quiet time. I had nothing to lose but a little sleep, right? I started with 10 minutes and moved up my time in small doses over the course of a couple of years. Now, I am at 2 hours of quiet time and cannot imagine starting my day without it. I don’t know how that happened…but it just did. I wake up…ready and looking forward to this time.

Through daily study, I’ve learned the importance of putting positive and inspirational things in my head first thing in the morning and the last thing before I go to sleep. And that…changed everything. It greatly helped level out any anxiety that comes throughout the day and helped keep me focused on what’s important in this little life of mine. Now I have more days of “I can do this” instead of stressing about whether I can or not. To my pleasant surprise, I’ve found that I try and learn new things very quickly, where anxiety used to hold me hostage.

I call this daily quiet time my “coffee date with God.” It’s nothing religious, but very personal. I use some time to read scripture, but most of the time to read and reflect on stories about people who have overcome major obstacles when the options have seemed to run dry. There are days that I listen to soft instrumental music and just write what’s in my heart and mind as soon as I get out of bed. No editing. Just rolled with the flow. And over the years, I’ve learned more about myself just by reading what I’ve written in the previous days. It’s helped me pinpoint some things that I needed to work out within myself. But moreso, it has helped me get through every day with less issues with anxiety.

I plant seeds of encouragement in my mind daily first thing in the morning and the last thing before I go to sleep. After some time and intention to not give up, I have experienced how those seeds have grown and I now embrace the day of small beginnings.

My coffee date started 6 years ago as a chore and a waste of 10 minutes of sleep time just to prove it wouldn’t work for me. And now, I consider that initial 10 minutes as one of the best investments I have ever made. It cost me nothing…but just a little time and intention.

Some of the best things in life start out seemingly insignificant. Sometimes, all it takes is just a measly 10 minutes. – KW

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