I've been thinking alot about the saying "you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of someone else." I've struggled with the concept. It seems self-explanatory but it's not. I know how to take care of Betsy. Feed her, bathe her, play with her, cuddle her, don't let her eat dog food. She's thriving! What is the difference between *surviving* and thriving? I want to thrive like Betsy!
I've decided it's about focus. Last year while our life was WONDERFUL, brimming with love from our family and friends, I didn't make myself a priority (this is another idiom I've been contemplating). It's selfish for me to not make myself a priority. What I mean is, I ENJOY doing for other people more than taking care of myself. I PREFER to plan things for others rather than planning how I can focus on my health. I need to learn to enjoy planning for myself. So I'm in the throws of making it happen!
I'm back using Spark People to track what I eat. I just have to accept that at this point in time I can't just eat what I think is healthy and expect to lose weight. I need to write down how much and look at the nutritional value. Maybe after a year of doing this I'll be back into the good habits, but at this point I'm not even close. I'm taking my vitamins (yes it might be two chewy Flinstone completes but if that was good enough according to my doctor for prenatal purposes then by golly it's goon enough for my non-pregnant-self too). I've started working out on my lunch breaks at work. A half hour of cardio a day isn't great but it's a half hour more than I've been getting.
Rome wasn't built in a day. For me having a healthy lifestyle can happen overnight but I won't be Wonder Woman overnight! I have noticed however that I'm happier and more energetic than I've been in a while and Ben enjoys that I'm happier. I've heard 'the best thing you can do for your marriage is to take care of yourself'. I'm starting to believe that.
I'm sure I'll be blogging about my weight loss, fitness and healthy changes only because when you focus on something you talk about it all the time. I mean, I focus on Betsy more than anything else and look at how much I blog about her!
3 comments:
Hi Shan! I don't think that I have left a comment on your blog yet - but I wanted to tell you that I completely believe in the importance of taking care of yourself in order to take care of others. Not only that - but when you feel good, you are really able to focus on the beautiful things in life and enjoy them as you are meant to. Good Luck - you can do it! :-)
Good luck Shannon! We've cut out alot of eating out so I'm cooking more and feel so much better about it. If you need anything let me know!
I feel ya. I haven't done anything nice for myself in a long time - it just seems hard to justify when I would rather do a million things for Harper or Jeff. I am going to give in and treat myself to a little pampering in the salon next week. I think I deserve it!
Good luck to you, too! Remember that a happy mom makes a happy family! :)
Post a Comment