Mothers are sometimes guilty of putting themselves last. We take care of kids. We take care of our households. We take care of our husbands. We work. And sometimes we even take care of our parents. As a matter of fact you may remember reading my post When Life Throws You a Monkey Wrench in December 2014. Now it is March, and I am still not fully back on track. I am still behind in work. I am still taking care of my mother in some ways. No, she is no longer at my house. But, get this… when I took her back to her apartment at the beginning of January, her elevator was out of service. She lives on the 5th (top) floor of the building. Her ankle is still not 100% so she cannot go up and down the stairs. I have made several trips over there and I’ve had to haul groceries up 5 flights of stairs. It is not fun. And of course there are still other things like appointments involved. Sigh.
That is a lot. It is very easy to be feel like I’m being stretched thin. It is easy to get run down. And it is easy to put taking care of myself on the back burner. As mothers we think that we are supposed to put everyone and everything else first. But the truth is that if you are not feeling 100% nothing else will get done. I feel like this is even harder when running a business. When I worked a 9-5 job in the office, I rarely had to bring my work home with me. This only happened during special projects. But now, as an entrepreneur I work from home all of the time. It can be hard to maintain a work/life balance. It is very easy to spend more than 8 hours a day working. And sometimes when my kids are not home I may spent just about all day in my office with breaks to eat. The struggle is real!
And now I’m in the midst of wedding planning. The wedding is June 6, 2015. I realize that I want to be my best on my wedding day. I don’t want to be a tired, run down, out of shape “mom” on my wedding day. I want to be a fit, sexy mom! So I have ramped up taking care of me. As the weather starts to break I will go back to getting regular pedicures so that my feet are flip-flop ready. For the past few years I’ve loved getting my nails nicely manicured. But not just a regular manicure. I am all about the designs. I started getting a thin layer of acrylic and gel because my own nails are usually quite thin. I have tried to keep them up myself a few times, but I just end up breaking them. So, my nails is one of the few things that I splurge on every month.
I’m also trying to take better care of my hair. However, I’ve decided to hold off experimenting with going natural until after the wedding. 🙂
And the biggest change of all… I JOINED THE GYM! Yes, apparently the world is ending. LOL! Seriously though, being 40 years old, getting married, and wanting to be healthy I realize that I needed to get over my dislike of exercise and get it done. I know myself and I know that I might give up, so I also signed up with a personal trainer at the gym. Yes, I took a huge step! I started this past Monday. On Tuesday I was soooo sore! But I still got up on Wednesday morning and made it to the gym at 9am for Muscle Max class. And you know what?? I LOVED IT!! It was hard, but I loved it. I made it through and I feel so accomplished. My body is screaming at me. It’s been years since I’ve worked out on a regular basis, so my body is definitely suffering. But I know that the pain means I am doing the right thing. The belly fat must go! And I want Michelle Obama arms. LOL! Or at least toned arms. I’ll just be taking a lot of hot showers and soaking in hot tubs. Ahhh. A few days ago I got a much-needed massage. It was SO relaxing. I would get a professional massage every single day if it was possible. 🙂
I’m glad that I have decided to put more effort into taking care of myself. When my wedding day rolls around I’ll be able to look in the mirror and be proud to be ME. And I’ll be very ready for the honeymoon and beach life.
ME Day is March 16, 2015. While you should take care of yourself each and every day, it is not always possible to have time to pamper yourself. Use that day to pamper yourself. Visit a spa, get a pedicure, or just relax in a hot tub at home.
What are you doing to take care of yourself?
Read The Story Behind The First ME Day on the Domain.ME blog.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Domain.ME. However, all thoughts and opinions, and the pain my body is feeling from working out are my own.
My husband was going out of town for a week, my son was going to be at school, and my workload was light. I declared, in my head, that it would be THE WEEK OF ME! And then my son got sick and so did I and it was more like the week of us, sitting on the couch. But I’m a big believer in me time so I’ll be hopping back on that bandwagon!
I hate exercising too. But, like you, i decided this is the year and I joined a gym. As I drive there I repeat the “exercise is fun’ mantra and as many times as I need throughout the workout. I figure that if I say it enough soon it’ll be true. If not, then I’ll just keep smiling and repeating the mantra and will be the crazy lady who talks to herself.
Congrats of the upcoming wedding. I hope your mom is better soon and they get her elevator fixed quickly.
Thanks so much @saving4someday:disqus! This post is from last March. My mother moved out long ago (YEAH!). And the wedding happened last June (SO glad that it’s over!!)
As for exercising… I really need to get back on doing it more regularly. I realize that my energy level is MUCH better when I am working out. I’ll have to try your mantra. LOL!
Good luck to you!
Kris
I saw March 5th and thought it was this year. Congrats on being a newlywed!
Thanks so much! Sorry for the confusion. They wanted us to share our posts again this year to celebrate. 😀