In the hustle and bustle of life’s journey, we oftentimes get caught up with missing out on spending quality time with the ones we love.  One of the things that allows me to maintain a decent level of sanity, is being able to decompress, vent, laugh, cry or just spend time with my family and close friends.  They are something like a form of therapy for me; sometimes when my job, or other aspects of life are beating me down, there’s nothing more I’d rather do than spend time with some of the VIP’s of my life.

Some of us find this difficult, because with all of our responsibilities pulling at you, how do you find the time to fit this into everything else going on?  Well, I’ve always been a firm believer in making time for what you want out of life.  If you want to spend time with people, you have to commit to it, and make the time.  You also have to maximize the time you have and make sure it’s worth every minute.

How can you maximize your time with the people you care most about?  Here’s a couple of ways I have found you can make the most out of the time you have, with the people you love.

Silence your phone. Putting your phone on Do No Disturb (or only answering it for certain people in case of emergency) is a good way to maximize the time you spend with the people you love the most.  Nothing is worse than spending all of your time on your phone when you’re supposed to be having fun.  The most use your phone should get is to capture all the selfies and memories of your good time.  Do yourself a favor and unplug from the phone and focus on that human interaction.

Plan things together. Taking the time to plan things with those that you care about is a good way to maximize your quality time.  It also shows that you care enough to put things together and make the time with that person special.

Focus on the positive; put a cap on negative energy.  I know we all have that one person that we completely unload on when we are having a bad day.  They are the person who will allow you to vent with no judgement and let you get all of your emotions out.  One thing you want to keep in mind though, is that you don’t want that to take up all of your time with that person.  Take a vow to only spend at least 5 minutes of your time with that person venting and releasing that negative energy.  After that, release it, and focus on more positive things.  Do not allow negative forces to take over the time you are supposed to be spending with your friends and family.

The key in all of these things is to ensure that your intentions are well communicated and received.  If you’re looking to spend time with those you love, make sure you make the effort to make that happen and make the time mean something to you.  Not only will you find peace and happiness for yourself, but the person you are spending that time with will appreciate you much more for making the effort to make that time as meaningful as possible!