Ah, family. Today reminded me of the important role that family plays in my own health and well-being, including the impact in being overweight to begin with and in succeeding at this game of weight loss. I am clear that my family is not responsible for my current weight. I am. However, family life does play a role that cannot be ignored.
Here’s a real life example. My husband left the house earlier than usual today – by 6:45 and before my body was ready to be up. He had a late appointment and didn’t return home until just before I had to leave for a work appointment at 6:45 p.m. My son was also sick today – nothing serious, just a little cold or bug of some sort. Since he’s currently 9, it did mean that leaving the yard wasn’t a good idea today. The impact of these circumstances was that I didn’t start my day with that walk that feels so good and revs me up for the day -also providing a much needed nature connection. Yes, I could have chosen to rise at 6 but then I would have been very tired today, which would likely have resulted in me overeating and making poor food choices. So getting the sleep seemed to be a higher priority.
Also, the distractions of attending to my son, along with running my business and meeting deadlines there, challenged me beyond my capacity to stretch in any other way. So picking up the slack by starting my weight lifting routine today or popping in a workout tape I haven’t used in a while just felt out of my reach today. On a different day, I might have had plenty of energy to adapt to the unusual circumstances and get my exercise in inspite of them. Not today.
I did manage to mow some lawn. That may not sound impressive as a form of exercise but I think it counts in our circumstances. First, we use a reel mower on our half acre. (You can search the term if you’re not familiar with the type of machine that I mean.) Secondly, our grass has gotten much longer than is easy to mow. With the abundance of rain and our leach field feeding it, the grass really should have been mowed several days ago. So I really worked up a sweat cutting the grasss. The good news is that it worked: (1) I got some exercise, (2) by me taking several breaks my son still got the attention he needed, and (3) part of the lawn mowing chore is temporarily accomplished.
So I don’t come to this task of caring for my body in a vacuum. It must be balanced with family (and work) responsibilities. Sometimes family is helpful to me on this mission – such as when my husband is with my son so that I can leave and do my favorite exercise, which is walking. Other times, family responsibilities or circumstances impede my progress.
What I must do better going forward in order to continue to make successful strides toward fitness is to make sure that I clear space – time and energy – to care for my body. I must. If your body needs you to take better care of it I hope you will do the same.
How I did today:
1. Sleep - 8.5 hours last night
2. Exercise - 45 minutes of mowing my tall grass with a reel mower
3. Strength training - not yet
4. Yoga – nope
5. Meditation – lots of sitting, no meditating
6. Food – not enough veggies and fruits. Still only one official serving of dark chocolate – yay!
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