About Common To Moms

There are many common life experiences we share as women, and sometimes life is less than glorious. That’s when we need a little inspiration to get us through the day. Welcome to Common to Moms, where we find motivation for meaningful living on our every-day journey as women, wives and mothers.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Inspire Me! Monday: Take Care of Yourself

I talked last week about cleaning... and wow! I guess the posts I found and the books I've been reading truly have been inspiring me. I have seen more change in myself and better results in my home this past week than ever before in my life.

I have made some simple changes that have led me to even deeper discoveries about myself. Here they are...

1. Grocery shopping on Sundays - What a blessing to let Christian take care of Melody and shop without distractions. This allows me to get more done during the week which makes Saturday day my "day of rest."

2. Laundry on Mondays- I love knowing that Monday is coming and I will KILL the laundry piles! Putting on a movie and folding laundry at the end of the night is actually fun! I smile at the pile of clean clothes growing on the couch all day since I know what personal "me" time I'm going to get at the end of the night:) Then I put everything away that night that I can and the rest gets put away the next day.

3. "Clean the House" on Thursdays- This day is for cleaning up before the week-end. My husband gets stressed in a messy environment. Now I can clean the house on a day when it counts to him. If the house is messy during the week, it is easier for him to handle since he isn't home very much. It is a great goal to be able to rest in a clean house (and maybe even invite people over!) on the week-ends!

4. Let the other days go! - Know that not every moment of my life needs to be filled with productivity. I am working to make some days REALLY count and other days have some give and take to them as I manage our home, motherhood and working 2 part time jobs.

I am breathing a huge sigh of relief because I feel I have FINALLY found a taking-care-of-my-home routine that works for me...

Whew...

Although that is a post in itself, I needed to share that so I can also talk about what is happening in my brain now that I am freed up from (a little bit of) messiness in my house.

I have realized that in my usual daily frenzy, I try to tackle EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME and therefore don't take care of the ONE THING that is most important... me!

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Covey describes this as "taking care of your goose." He says that if you have a goose that lays golden eggs, what good are the golden eggs without the goose? You have to care about the goose (so it continues to lay eggs) just as much as you care about the eggs (i.e. the product or productivity).

Translation:
If I don't take care of myself, of course my house will be in shambles... I won't have the energy for it!
If I don't take care of msyelf, of course my daughter will be cranky... She has a cranky mama!
If I don't take care of myself, of course my husband is more likely to be argumentative... I am probably not being so nice to him if I'm not doing well.
If I don't take care of myself, of course I feel like I have nothing to offer... Because the truth is, I really don't!

Here are the ways I need to do better to take care of myself...
1. Get more sleep. I know I need 8-9 hours to feel good but constantly stay up late anyway. I will never feel better until I change this.
2. Get fully dressed first thing every day. I am always afraid to call people back, run an errand or generally be in touch with the world when I have an "at home" day because I'm generally not ready for the day. (Did I just admit that to the world? On the internet? Oh boy.)
3. Use a monthly planner and a To-Do List. This just makes me better on top of things and less forgetful.
4. Take moments for God and moments for myself every day. I think sometimes I also procrastinate on work because I am afraid I won't GET to take care of myself. Talk about crazy. This FEAR totally perpetuates the CRAZY cycle. Worry I won't get to take care of myself, procrastinate work, work builds up, do the marathon for the work, wind up not taking care of myself, burn out... rinse & repeat... I think I need a therapist... oh wait! That's why I have you! ;-)
5. Eat 3 meals a day and drink water. I have mentioned before how sometimes this escapes me. Don't kid yourself... you do it too.

I admit I am not normal. Most people don't struggle with the most ABSOLUTE BASIC things in life (sleeping enough, eating enough, getting dressed in the morning... haha!), but I will bet there are things that you need that you aren't getting. We are women after all, and everyone else always come first. I'm not saying it's bad to put others first... just that we also need to care for ourselves.

So what is it? What do you need in your life to be better taken care of? More sleep? Time for stress relief each week? Each day? (I know some of you reading this have very demanding lives!) Exercise? More water?

This is not a "what could you to do to be a better person" type question. I want you to really think. Are you missing something in your life that is VITAL to your ability to function in your job or as a person? Think about it while you read these inspiring posts and leave a comment below. As always, I look forward to hearing from you! Happy Monday!

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