This post may hit home to some and may bring forth several excuses in others. But I’m going to bring up a very important topic to me – balancing life, health and exercise.
So EVERYONE is busy, I get it! At one point in my life (fairly recent) I was working a full time job, selling Arbonne on the side, organizing an event for a networking Group I’m in, selling my previous house, purchasing my new home, packing/moving and still tending to my wee ones at home…where’s the time to workout in there, right? WRONG!
Your body, under all of that stress, NEEDS the endorphins release, so where would one incorporate this said workout time? In all honesty I throw it in throughout my day in spurts. Walking to the bathroom – tighten things up as you walk, in the bathroom – do a few squats, leg lifts and wall push-ups (all my colleagues are going ‘ahhhh that’s what she does in there’…ha), at my desk – leg lifts and booty tightening moves, TAKE your lunch break and utilize your office stairs if you have them or walk the building and last and most importantly, I have instilled it in my children to workout WITH mama!
This very important item is what some say is not possible with yours, but I ask you to seriously encourage this – lead by example. Trust me, one of my children are not 100% into it, but still they understand the importance of working out, and will understand that this is necessary in life to maintain a healthy body AND mind.
You may wonder what workouts I do that kids can do… It’s as simple as inviting them to choose after observing you do a few. My daughter in particular is a HUGE fan of my Jillian Michaels workouts. My son, on the other hand, likes to pick out a workout based on making fun of how I look while doing them – haha! In one of his very uplifting motivating statements, the child I dare say, encouraged me to work harder as he declared “I don’t want you to do that video mom, because your butt jiggles too much!” Oye, did that ever hit me! I laughed and then busted tail to work harder -lol! (Side bar on parenting -Some may say you should teach your kids not to say rude things. Trust me when I say, I tell them those things hurt others feelings, but with me I encourage their forthright statements as you can never get more honest than a child’s pure evaluation of something – seriously. Embrace that honesty in some respects by allowing them to not beat around the bush with you, if you can’t be truthful with the ones you love, who can you be honest with? It may sting, but take it for what it’s worth and make changes if you don’t like what you hear!)
This timeframe in which I incorporated these workouts were when I got home from work. Yes, there are other things that should/could have been done, but this was more important. It A. Allows bonding time with the tots, B. encourages them and sets a positive example on how important this part of your life is, and C. Is mandatory in today’s crazy busy world to maintain your health to be HERE for you kids and family.
Nowadays that life has settled some, and I’m not losing hair at the same rate as which I’m breathing, I now have time to do other things aside from just a video…such as run, bike, take spin and yoga classes, USE the workout equipment I’ve got stashed in my basement, crank the music and just dance with kids (AMAZING workout and just plain out fun for all of us). It’s all about prioritizing…
I challenge you all to find some time during your day to utilize the opportunity to burn a few calories and slowly take strides in gaining back your health AND sanity. And for all those parents out there, LEAD BY EXAMPLE!
Have a happy, healthy rest of your day – until next time!!!