As school is gearing up to start, I am striving to be EXTRA thoughtful in our fall routine. Fall is our busiest time of the year no matter how many BEST yeses I give or no thank you’s we say. I think that is what is the most confusing part about being a parent. You want family time but you also want your kids to be kids - and when you have more than one (or even an active ONE) then you are automatically spread thin with activities. Think about it - if every person in your family has ONE extra curricular activity (outside of school and career), then you are already shuffling to FIVE extra things a week! Whew. Just thinking about it makes me tired.
But fall - even in all of it’s business - is also one of my favorite times. I love football, cooler weather, fireplaces, Texas chili and bbq brisket. I love reading under the blanket, clutching coffee on the sidelines on saturdays and driving with my windows down. I love fall scented anything, all things pumpkin spice and pecan pie and cranberry is my current favorite color. I am ready.
One of the first things to go when I get over scheduled is exercise. It's honestly the last thing that I WANT to do, but more than that I tend to think about all of the other stuff that I could be getting done during that 30-45 minutes. Laundry, unloading the dishwasher, getting ahead on work, etc. And did I mention that I hate having to dry my hair more than twice a week?
But I'm now thirty-five and need to take a bit better care of myself. We did a marriage study this summer in our class at church, and although we were out of town for most of it, we caught the tail end on Sunday. We talked about the top marriage killers for males and females. There was some typical things on there like pornography, finances, etc. but one thing really resonated with me for women : lack of self care!
Isn't that the truth? Women, typically, are incredibly good at taking care of themselves that somewhere along the way we stop caring for ourselves! I am COMPLETELY guilty in this area, y'all! This includes finding an outlet, going to bed on time, actually brushing your teeth in the morning (I see you out there), and - you guessed it - making time for exercise.
I know you're rolling your eyes at me, heck, I'm rolling my eyes at me. But exercise does so much more than burn calories! It sets us up for a good rest of the day! It gives us endorphins (thank you, Elle Wood) but it also is soemthing that we can do purely for ourselves. When I think about all of the other things I could be doing I am essentially telling myself I am selfish for taking time out of my day to exercise! How ridiculous is that? Ladies - it is NOT selfish for us to take care of ourselves!
With that said, I have a hard time actually carving out time because I do hate it so much. As such I am issuing a challenge for all of us For the next thirty days, I am challenging myself to walk / run / jog / skip / bike a mile a day. Just one. I come up with all sorts of excuses all the time as to why I can’t work out. With Jeff traveling so much, either I need a gym membership or I have to workout at home (with a video) or on the days my youngest goes to Mother’s Day Out. And let me tell you that those four hours go FAST, as so many of you mommas know!
But ONE mile every day? I can do that. No excuses. Even if I have a cold, I can struggle through a mile. I can walk that with a stroller, I can run it pretty quickly before kids get up or after I drop Landry off. I can squeeze in a mile - even if it’s walking - every day. And so can you!
Won't you join me? Think about how much better we will all feel if we just get outside and move for one mile? It will give us the energy to parent better, eat healthier, love stronger, listen harder and sleep sounder. Please try it with me! We can encourage each other! Let me know in the comments below if you're in! I'm going to document my miles on Instagram using #LBmileaday and you can do that too! We can keep each other accountable to take care of ourselves!
Let's do this!
I figure this is just one little way that I can create a healthy routine for myself!