Not to be all braggy, but this is a big deal for me! I have not stuck to a workout plan for, oh I don't know, several decades so I'm kinda happy with myself for sticking to this one for a whole week. And I am enjoying it so much that I don't see me stopping anytime soon...hopefully never.
Before you are too impressed, I'm not talking about a high energy, aerobic sweatfest. I'm doing a very low impact stretching and toning routine that I like to call "not-yoga". It's similar to yoga I suppose, but without the spiritual stuff because this girl don't do that. (Except for goat yoga. That is actually an actual thing! I might have to try that sometime because, baby goats!).
I've been doing a variation of my not-yoga routine since high school, and I literally noticed the benefits on the very first day. I have more energy and feel more relaxed all day long. And it's more than just a workout...I made a playlist of worship songs that lasts for almost exactly 30 minutes (so I don't have to keep checking the clock) and I am using that time for praise or prayer, or both. What I, for years didn't think I could do (make time to work out OR get up earlier than I had to) has now become the best part of my day. I look forward to getting up and don't keep hitting the snooze (also, putting my alarm clock a little farther away helps with that little habit).
And...I feel closer to God, and that is the absolute best.
So after my praise workout - yes! I'm going to call it my praise workout now!! So much better than not-yoga :) After my praise workout I resist the urge to flop on my bed and waste time on facebook, and I put on a podcast instead. I had been listening to Joyce Meyer's podcast for the past several months while getting ready for work, but a couple weeks ago I started listening to the Proverbs 31 podcast. It is nothing short of life changing for me. I'm in the middle of the "Therapy and Theology" series, which is a great follow up to the bible study I just finished on Lysa Terkeurst's book "It's Not Supposed To Be This Way".
Also life changing.
I seriously needed that book, and this podcast, at this exact time of my life. Both have helped me on so many levels and I know I am going to be camping on them for some time to come. And by camping, I mean re-reading the book and things I've hi-lighted in it, going over my study notes, and listening to the podcasts over and possibly over again. I need repetition to truly learn something. Some people can hear things once and get it. I tend to need to go over things two or ten times before I truly retain it and am able to apply the concepts to my life.
I seriously needed that book, and this podcast, at this exact time of my life. Both have helped me on so many levels and I know I am going to be camping on them for some time to come. And by camping, I mean re-reading the book and things I've hi-lighted in it, going over my study notes, and listening to the podcasts over and possibly over again. I need repetition to truly learn something. Some people can hear things once and get it. I tend to need to go over things two or ten times before I truly retain it and am able to apply the concepts to my life.
And if I'm going to be totally transparent, there are multiple areas of my life right now that I could say, and some days scream...IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY!!!
1) I'm SUPPOSED to have a house full of kids, and as I've already talked about here and here, I'm having some adjustment issues with our two babies graduating this year and the idea of an empty nest looming in our not-so-distant future. Not only that (which is enough) but my male cherub is giving me an aneurysm with his lackadaisical attitude toward school...in this, the home stretch of his senior year.
"I've got this, Mom", he says. "Everything's fiiiine, Mother", he says.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking he should be rounding third and running full bore for home plate, when in reality he is farting around somewhere near 2nd base...kicking the dirt and staring at his glove like he did in t-ball which was adorable back then. Now, not so much.
2) Mr. Wonderful and I are SUPPOSED to have all the kinks worked out in our marriage, particularly in our parenting styles, but to be honest we have walked through some stuff. Especially over the last five years. Hello counselor, my old friend....I've come to talk with you again...
3) I'm SUPPOSED to be turning 40, not 50. I'm not feeling 50. It sounds old...at least older than I feel. Maybe that's a good thing? That I don't feel as old as I actually am? I guess I don't mind it THAT much, I'm not hung up on age. But it does feel weird.
4) As we are approaching the end of our season of "raising children", I am doing a life review of sorts and there are some things that I wish we would have done. And others I wish we would have done differently. But one that I'm hung up on right now is that we were SUPPOSED to have taken more vacations as a family. We wanted to, but as life moved along we never seemed to have the money or the time. It was easier to pack up and go when the kids were pre-teens, before they had jobs and extra curriculars to keep us tied to home.
4) As we are approaching the end of our season of "raising children", I am doing a life review of sorts and there are some things that I wish we would have done. And others I wish we would have done differently. But one that I'm hung up on right now is that we were SUPPOSED to have taken more vacations as a family. We wanted to, but as life moved along we never seemed to have the money or the time. It was easier to pack up and go when the kids were pre-teens, before they had jobs and extra curriculars to keep us tied to home.
Our kids haven't been deprived, and neither have Vince and I. I know that. We have all been on vacations, in various combinations of kids and parents, but we never took a real family vacation ALL together during their growing up years. Which are now coming to an end.
Sigh.
We are however planning a real deal family vacation for this summer! We are going to Okoboji, staying by a lake and doing lots of water fun and mini-golfing and game playing and relaxing. And just being together.
As I sit here typing that out, I realize that I need to just slap myself - and remember that it's not too late. It will never be too late. We will ALWAYS be a family and there will be countless opportunities in the years to come to make even more memories together. I need to let go of the memories that we didn't make, remember the ones that we did, and look forward to the ones we have yet to make in the future.
And THAT's the way it's SUPPOSED to be :)
