“How do you find the time?”
Kelly Groff -Team JSF
It is a simple phrase that I hear at least once a day.
Most of the time it relates to fitness.
Sometimes it relates to other passions I have in my life.
But I hear it often.
As you read in my first blog entry, I am a mother of two. My nine year old daughter, Kaela Mae, is very active in dance. I act as her taxi 4 to 6 days a week, traveling to and from dance to get her to her passion. Although I dread the driving every day, I secretly love the time alone with her just to catch up with what is going on in her “world” (that I am so grateful to live in!). My son Kade “Kademan” just turned 5 and has really shown us the value of life. He’s helped us see that it is a precious gift we have every day.
Kademan suffers from an undiagnosed neuro-muscular disorder. Caring for him has me as his taxi driver traveling from therapy appointment to therapy appointment (occupational therapy, feeding therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, etc.). Plus, we have doctor appointments and, oh yeah, he has school in the mix of it all. When I write down his appointments on the calendar it looks busy, but what the calendar doesn’t reflect is the day to day routines that take up time. It’s almost that I forget to “schedule” them into the day. For example, lunch can take anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour. So needless to say, the kids keep me busy.
Like most moms, I also squeeze into that day grocery shopping, dinner making, errand running, and time for my husband. Somehow I also strive to make time for me. (Ok maybe that doesn’t happen EVERY day, but I sure do try!) Despite the never ending quest for crossing items off my “to do” list, I know I am lucky. I am lucky that I have amazing family and friends to help me get through this crazy thing I call my life.
Does this sound crazy to you? You are probably thinking, “yes……. but I have 3 more kids than you do and they are all active, they have practices and games all at the same time, and on the other ends of the world. Plus I volunteer at the school 3 times a week, and hold chairs on 3 boards.” The reality is we are ALL busy.
We all have filled our plate full and we keep piling it on. Why? Because that’s what we do; we are told there are 24 hours in a day and we try to fill it. As a parent we cater to our kids, we make the impossible schedule possible. We make it work, because YOU JUST DO… So why should we not take that approach when we think about ourselves? In my journey of finding a healthy lifestyle, it took me a long time to apply that approach to myself. How do I find the time to exercise, or how do find the time to read that book? Because I JUST DO; I make time.
When I started working out it was a 6:00 am class. I HATE mornings! This means I have to leave my house at 5:30am (now I have perfected it to 5:37 to squeeze in every last minute of sleep) ;). This means I have to get up and get moving to get out the door, a process I have down to 15 minutes, 10 if I need to. But you get the picture; I give myself little time to get ready so I don’t talk myself out of going to the gym.
After a month of working out I saw some changes… changes in my arms, changes in my mind, and changes in my mood. Others noticed these changes and would comment. I liked how I was feeling, how I was evolving, how I was doing something for me. My work out is only 30 minutes in the morning. And it’s a work out where I don’t hear “mom I need something” or where laundry is staring at me. Somehow 6:00 am evolved into feeling like I am out for a night on the town!! I have 30 minutes for me to be me!!!!
I walk back through that door at home at 7:00 am, my husband is passing with coffee in hand and off to his day of work, Kademan is usually stirring in bed and it’s now time for Kaela to get up and get going because the bus will be here in an hour. “ME” time is over and now I must kick into mommy-mode. But they never knew I was gone, and I MADE the time!! It has amazed me what making 30 minutes for my workouts has done for the entire rest of my day.
I am not saying this schedule will work for everyone, but if you don’t MAKE the time, you will never FIND the time. Make the time when you can do something for 30 minutes a day by yourself. And if it’s fitness that is a goal, you will be amazed by what a 30 minute workout can do for you! Just taking 30 minutes to refresh yourself, you will be a better you than you were yesterday.
Kelly Groff – Team Jeremy Scott Fitness