Sunday, March 6, 2011

What's it going to be?

www.tips-fb.com

Greetings and Salutations everyone! As many of you know, I'm a busy girl. I work full-time as an 8th grade teacher (and bring work home with me regularly), I'm a doggy mom to three pups who insist on 60+ minutes of walking every day as well as my undivided attention throughout the evening and on weekends, I'm a wife and manager of a household, I volunteer two days per week at the CSRA Humane Society where I'm an adoption counselor, and I workout a lot. Sometimes it's tough to find the time to fit it all in. But you know what? If you want it badly enough, you find the time. Simple as that.

The way I see it, you have a choice to make. You can decide to either make changes that will improve your life, or you can decide to just let the status quo in your life reign. It's about priorities. What do you want the most and what are you willing to give up in order to get it?

I have a busy schedule, just like the majority of you. However, I had to learn to let go of some things that were simply time wasters. If you feel you don't have the time to fit exercise or proper nutrition into your day, I challenge you to write down every single thing you do for a week. I'd venture a guess that you'll find 30-60 minutes, probably more, that you could utilize for preparing healthy meals or fitting in a short workout. My biggest time waster is the internet...I LOVE pogo and their games. I can pop balloons, whomp moles, and put numbered balls into a grid like no other. However, I need that time to fit everything in, so I simply limit my mental downtime to 15 minutes (I actually set a timer and when it goes off, I'm done with pogo) and then move on with my day.

Busy people are multi-taskers and prioritizers. They get the most important things done first, and combine things that can be combined. I have a fitness acquaintance whose priority is her personal fitness. She feels that she can't be the best mom she can be unless she stays fit and remains fit. It's important to her because she knows that the example she sets will affect her daughters. So, she wakes up at 4:00 a.m. every single day (except Sunday), goes into her basement and works out for an hour. It's her priority. It may not be fun getting up at that hour, but it can be done. I know a lot of busy moms who do exactly that.

One thing that's important to me is reading books that are going to help me grow as a person. Alas, reading takes time. Because time is an issue, I download a lot of books onto my I-pod and listen while I walk the dogs or listen in the car on my way to work. It's simple things like that that make fitting it all in easier.

So I don't want to hear the excuse that you're too busy for yourself. YOU are important and your health is key to the success of your family, however big or small it may be.