It’s hard to stay motivated. It’s even more difficult to stay upbeat when not feeling so motivated. My to-do list feels endless at the moment. I can visualize the other side, I just can’t seem to get there.
When I start to feel overwhelmed, I take a few minutes early in the morning, or over lunch, or any time I can grab five minutes, and I pick a spot to read in the history of this house / family / life. It’s a good reminder that we can do this. We’ve done this before, and we’ll do it again. This week’s reminder was E’s attic nursery. If we can tackle that mess during pregnancy and life with a newborn, then we can tackle anything.
Willing myself to let a few things go this week and next in order to focus on some upcoming goals. Trying to let the act of spring inspire me as well. It’s tough work transforming the brown and barren into something growing and green.
Got anything you’re stuck on currently?
I have got to get out of my lack of exercising rut. I did so well on Spring break and then… It’s not a lack of time as much as uninterrupted time. And I don’t know how to fix that! I know it would make me feel so much better but I haven’t found a way to prioritize it. It frustrates me.
Brooke recently posted…Oh Hey We Spent The Last Few Days Doing All This Stuff
I totally get that. It’s a hard rut to break out of, especially with little ones and when you are in charge of 95% of kid schlepping and day watching. When the girls were smaller it was so hard for me to get past my dislike of the gym and my feeling that I shouldn’t put my kids in any sort of babycare at the gym. I don’t know what I was smoking, because I love my two gym classes now, and the girls completely enjoy the time they get to hang out in Y-care. It’s free, and at the Carondelet location the staff is great and the rooms are large and clean and full of so much fun stuff to do. I always leave that place in a better mood than I brought in.
I used to make the excuse that I couldn’t run / exercise at all because I couldn’t do it in the morning. And I couldn’t do it in the morning because M leaves for work so early and I have the kids. It was really just an excuse. It’s not the easiest thing to exercise after working in a chair all day, in the hottest part of the day, and at the hungriest part of the day – pre-dinner. But once I added those runs in – I mean, I work just a few blocks down from the greatest park ever – it just became second nature. Most runs are around four miles, and I knock it out in under 40 minutes, and I’m home and happy. I take one Monday night hardcore class for 1.5 hours and one 75 minute Saturday morning class. That’s really all I can do, but it feels like a good balance for me right now.
Do you have a Y membership? Maybe start with one class. I love the Saturday morning Power Yoga. You could leave the girls at home, or bring them if D wanted to do his own thing (or work out too). It really sets off the weekend for me. Otherwise I just push off working out until it’s Sunday night and I’m full of excuses.