NO MORE TIME, FOR “NO TIME”

So one of the things that used to plague me long ago was the “Time” issue. Never enough time for this, not enough time for that. My schedule was just too busy to do one more thing. I for one had this thought many many years ago when it came to exercise.

 Now I’ll be the first to tell you I was genuinely a very busy wife, mom of 3 small kids, homeschooling my kiddos, running a business, and going to school all at the same time, not to mention trying to keep on top of my daily chores and tasks. I literally felt most days like I was falling behind because of all I was trying to do in a day. There was absolutely no way I had the time to squeeze in working out too. That would seriously have required me to wake up at 4 am to be able to even accomplish that in peace, without kids at my feet, and there was no way I was even attempting that,  barely getting any sleep from a toddler keeping me up half the night!

 Until I decided…….I was worth it, and there wasn’t any time for me NOT to. 3 pregnancies, stress of being a mom, and being in school created some pretty unhealthy eating habits, (or sometimes no eating at all).  I had zero energy, was grumpy, and felt super horrible about what I saw in the mirror. YEP, I felt all the same things you have felt. I was at a crossroads in my life. Make some changes to feel better for the rest of my life, or continue down this path I was on, getting worse month by month. I had a choice… We all do… I had to choose to live! I seriously wasn’t living very well, wasn’t taking care of myself at all. But I made excuses after excuses for not starting the change. The biggest was time.

Our time is SO valuable, and if you’re like me, you try to squeeze as much as you can into a little bitty time frame. So I had to start by looking at my time, big picture wise. What exactly was I doing in my day? I decided to keep a log of my time and how it was being spent. Seriously, sleeping, eating, cleaning, phone calls, school time, TV, chores, errands, computer, everything…. And what I found kind of shocked me. I was spending my time doing MANY things, which most of which were good things, but I was also spending time doing things I didn’t need to be doing,  wasting my time, carrying others burdens, worrying about things I had no control over, and much more.  The QUALITY of my time wasn’t used as well as it could have been which made it feel like I had zero QUANTITY of time.

 This had to change….. I started by eliminating things I had zero control over, and focusing on organizing my priorities, the things I did. I’m a list gal, so I made lists, of my priorities, and my goals. Which means, you actually have to make some goals, (We’ll discuss that another time).  Putting my priorities in order was HUGE for me, to see what my priorities should be, and recognize what they HAD been was a great launching pad for me. Making use of each moment I had, to do the necessary things I had to do, freed up some time to do the things I truly wanted to do. It meant going to bed earlier, starting the kids earlier for bed, and saying no to some things, even some good things. I came to the realization that I couldn’t do it all, but I could definitely give my all to the things that were important to me. Because I WAS WORTH IT. YOU’RE WORTH IT.

I’m not getting any younger, and sadly neither are you. The sooner we start to put our priorities in line, the sooner we start the beginning of the rest of a healthier life. There are no excuses, each one of us can move and need to move. There are things we can give up, whether it’s our time spending on things not as important, or monetary things, so we can afford to eat healthy, afford to train hard. It’s all a choice, and it’s all possible, but it’s a choice.

Someone once told me, how much is a healthier you worth? Thought provoking huh! They told me, your husband, your kids, your grandkids to be, will need a healthy you, so what are you doing now, to be healthy for you and them later?

Many years later I will tell you, I’ve had to set priorities more than once, getting rid of things that seem to creep into my life or schedule or that move into areas that are important to me. Training is important to me, no, it’s my lifeline. It’s where I get my aggressions out, where I prove to myself I can do something, where I look back and see how far I’ve come, it’s a part of my life now, not something I squeeze into my life. And no, I don’t train hours and hours a day. Maybe a 1 ½ hours a day in training, sometimes much less. BUT, I’m training, I’m putting in the work now, because THIS is important to me. This will be important to me for the rest of my life, so I can LIVE my life well. I had a choice….So do you…. To choose our circumstances, or let them choose you. To choose Life, and live it well! Because YOUR WORTH IT, and NOW IS YOUR TIME.

So how much is a healthier you worth anyway?