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It’s been a little over a year now that I made the decision to bring exercise into my life. I had tried it before and had failed but I was hoping this time would be different. I asked for Jim’s support and he gave it to me whole-heartily.
I knew in order to be successful I had to make a big commitment to exercise. I wanted to go to the YMCA Monday-Thursday night to work out. This was a huge sacrifice for me. I work full-time. I love my kids so much and I always wish I could have more time with them. So for me to be “selfish” and say I wanted to take time away from my kids to exercise meant that I was serious about the commitment.
And I was. And it paid off. I’ve lost 27 pounds since then.
I feel great physically right now. The other day I was putting my weight into the weight watchers tracker and I noticed it said “your healthy weight range is 128-160 lbs.” I laughed. I have no interest in being 128 pounds. I don’t know that I even want to try for 160. Right now my goal is 180. My weight the last time I weighed was 193.6. I’m losing steadily and I’m happy with how I’m losing. I’m happy with the amount of food I eat and what kind of food I eat. My overall wellness life is happy, very happy.
But, I feel like other areas of my life aren’t as happy. Not, bad, just not happy. Like take my two little ones I was talking about before. The ones that I sacrificed my time away from. I have no regrets from the last year and making my weight loss a priority but I think it’s time to take a good look at the time I have available and where it can best be spent.
Right now I shoot for four or five days of Zumba a week which includes three weeknight classes. I don’t physically need to do five hours of Zumba a week to lose those last 13 pounds, especially since I’m happy with where I’m at right now and I don’t have a timeline for getting those last 13 pounds off.
No, I believe it would be better to give up one of my weekday Zumba classes to give it back to my family.
Something else that I’ve been thinking a lot about is our house. Our house has been pretty clean the past three weeks and it’s been because we’ve been spending 30 minutes each night picking it up to maintain the cleanliness. We’ve made it a priority. And do you know how nice it is to have a clean house? It just makes me so much happier. A messy house makes me stressed out and unhappy. It makes me feel hopeless and like a failure.
And there are other areas of the household that need attention - like laundry and grocery shopping. So simple, but such a stress maker when they don’t get done. When I go down to the laundry room in the morning to get uniform pants for Jacob and I realize there are no clean ones or when I’ve blown off going to the store again because I’m too tired and there’s nothing to eat in the house. And how many hours do I waste at night with my laptop on the couch when I could be doing something more productive? That’s not a good use of my time. Those are priorities that I should be giving more attention to.
So I’m going to. I’m going to sit down and take a look at the things that are really important to me that I want to improve – just like I did last year with exercise. I’m going to incorporate one-on-one time with the kids, I’m going to find a way to make it to Trader Joe’s to grocery shop even though it’s 45 minutes from my house (but on my way home from work), I will find a way to stay on top of the laundry. I’m scared because I’ve said things like this before. I’ve had good intentions, done well for a few weeks and then failed. Just like my history with exercise and weight loss.
But it’s just a wish until you write it down. When you write it down it’s a goal. And I’m a girl that can fight for a goal she believes in.
A photo from yesterday after my jewelry came in. So happy!
