How Do You Treat Your Temple?
To be honest with you, I have not been respecting mine very much over this past two years. I haven’t been eating well – or drinking enough water. I haven’t been sleeping. I haven’t been active. I haven’t been taking care of my hair or skin. In short, I have been doing nothing to glorify God within me. I hate to sound like a cliché with the whole “New Year, New Me” speech, but it is definitely time for me to make some major changes.
Here are a few of the things I would like to work on:
Sleep: Most nights after the kids are in bed, I sit down with my laptop and zone out as scroll through Facebook, clicking on too many pointless links – often just silly photos or videos. I come across plenty of educational and spiritual material too but since I am read it late at night, not much of the info is being retained. Before I know it, several hours have passed by and it is now well past midnight and I have accomplished nothing but ensure I am going to have a rotten, grumpy morning. My 2 year old still wakes up at least once during the night which means I rarely get more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep. No wonder I have zero motivation to do anything! I am depressed and I have zero appetite. I am clumsy. I can’t think straight and forget things. I am super lazy – even getting up to use the bathroom seems like a torturous chore! Now that I have started a home daycare, getting proper rest is even more important. It is so difficult to maintain patience and to have enough energy to keep a group of busy tots entertained for 12 hours a day. There is also more cooking, dishes, cleaning and laundry. I spent at least 5 hours a week preparing lesson plans, activities and crafts. It’s hard to be creative when all I can think about is my pillow and blankie.
Bottom Line: Nothing else is going to improve if I don’t get more rest.
Goals: 10pm bedtime. No computer or TV after 9:30. Bath/shower to help relax. 15-30 minutes reading.
Diet: My typical day starts off with a strong coffee first thing in the morning – before I have any water or food. I don’t even want to think about the damage I am doing to my stomach and organs! Around 10 or 11, my tummy gives a little rumble. Often times my go-to items are from the bread category – bagels or pitas, grilled cheese or PB&J sandwiches. As the day goes on, I nibble on toddler scraps. Before I know it it’s 5:00 and time to start dinner. Dinner is my best meal of the day – well it’s my only ACTUAL meal. During my late night zoning out, I indulge in munchies – usually air-popped popcorn or raw nuts in large, unhealthy qualities.
Bottom Line: I eat zero fruit (unless it’s blended in a smoothie), very little protein and iron throughout the day and I pack in about 1000 calories or more after 6 pm. Bad, bad, bad!
Goals: Eat breakfast first thing in the morning before having coffee, snack at 9:30, lunch at 11:30, snack at 3:30, dinner at 6:30, snack at 9:00 – in other words, I’ll be following the same meal plan as my daycare. Snacks should be at least one serving of fruit each. Breakfast should be something warm, different every day and including dairy and fruit. Lunch should have one protein source and once veggie serving. Since I haven’t been eating throughout the day, dinner is usually a very large meal. I would like to cut the serving size in half.
Water: Often times I sit down to dinner and suddenly I can’t seem to get enough water. Then I think about my day and realize I haven’t had a drop all day aside from what was used to make coffee. This has been an ongoing problem ever since I became a SAHM. When I was working as a receptionist, I drank buckets of water. Every hour or so, I was refilling my 700ml bottle. Nowadays, I’m lucky to finish 1 bottle a day when I should be drinking at least 4 bottles. For a while I was setting alarms on phone for every 3 hours. When the alarm went off, I downed whatever was left – often times it was the whole bottle. It worked for a while, but after a few months I started ignoring the alarms. They started to annoy me and I would quickly turn them off and continue with whatever I was doing. By the end of the day I am super irritable. Every noise makes me want to snap. Once I get a few glasses of water in me, it’s all rosy again.
Bottom Line: Staying hydrated will improve my appetite and mood.
Goal: One bottle of water with each meal plus half a bottle in between meals.
Exercise: Man oh man, have I become lazy. And I do mean L-A-Z-Y! I do nothing all day aside from what has to be done. I usually spend my days sitting on the floor playing with the kids or doing other basic mommy jobs. 4:00 rolls around and suddenly everything has to get done. That is usually when my kids are the most “needy”. “Veggiesaurus” needs help with homework. “Shadow” insists on being held or follows me around like a shadow. Plus dishes and dinner prep. Now that I am running a daycare, I am following a schedule that keeps me busy, but I am still not doing anything active. Yes, I suppose I am burning a few extra calories nowadays but I am not doing anything to strengthen my muscles, heart or lungs. Once upon a time I was a gym rat. I could spend hours in there. I haven’t been to the gym since June and I am still paying for a membership! Now that I don’t have someone here to watch my girls while I go to the gym, it’s really time to cancel the membership. I use to walk a lot – like 2-4 hours a day, 3-5 days a week. I LOVE walking and hiking! It is my happy place. I haven’t had a good walk in over a month 😦 I have free weights, an elliptical, yoga mat, exercise ball, lots of videos and printed workout plans. I have everything I need right here aside from motivation. You would think that full length mirror in my bedroom would be all the encouragement I need, but it’s super easy to just not look at it at all. Every time I have to run for a bus, I am ashamed with how long it takes for me to catch my breath. Yesterday I pushed the stroller up a slushy, snowy hill. I thought my heart was going to explode by the time I got to the top and I had to stop for a few minutes before continuing home. My house has a lot of stairs – 7 levels with about 10 or more stairs in-between each. Heaven forbid if I have to go from the basement to my upstairs bathroom on the highest level – My legs are jello! I am 31 with the cardio-vascular fitness of an over-weight, 90 year old smoker! Well, maybe I am not that bad, but compared to my personal standards, I might as well be. I want to be able to run around and play actively with the kids without feeling like an old lady. I want to be able to sit down in jeans without worrying about my “mommy pouch” (seriously, my youngest it TWO, I can’t use that as an excuse forever!) But most importantly, I want to set a better example for my daughters. Too many times, I have made “fat” comments or insulted myself. I want them growing up with positive images, not a consist fear of being chunky and feeling like crap about themselves.
Bottom Line: Improved self-esteem will improve my outlook. I’ll eat and sleep better. I’ll be a better role-model. I’ll be able to play more. I’ll be doing something I enjoy, just for me – a time out from being care-giver 24/7.
Goals: 20-30 minutes strength training while the kids nap. 20-30 minutes on the elliptical in the evening while watching something on TV instead of just sitting there. Stretch every 1 hour. No more negative talk!
Personal Care: Now this might not seem that important for a fairly modest person like myself, but it actually means a lot. I miss the days when I would occasionally get a mani-pedi or a massage. It wasn’t about looking better but about having an hour where someone did something for me. Sometimes I feel like a give and give but never receive. Being pampered for an hour once every month or two makes such a difference! A part of me would love to “force” myself to spend extra money on these things, but in reality I would probably just become very guilty and anxious about it. That’s doesn’t mean I can’t do it for myself at home. It is incredibly easy to take 30 minutes to soak your feet and paint your nails so why haven’t I been doing it? Remember I said I was lazy? I just don’t have the mental energy to get it done. Over the past two years, my hair has become thin and weak. I am afraid to comb it because seeing all the fallen hair makes me want to cry. I know this probably due to poor diet and stress. My skin is dull and rough because I can’t be bothered to snap on some coconut oil after my shower. So lazy! My eyes show the many sleepless nights. When I look at myself in the mirror and honestly think “no wonder I am single!” I am not into cosmetics or bold nail polish or dying my hair. I like to keep things as natural looking as possible. I am not looking to make myself prettier by secular standards, but just to restore my body to its natural beauty.
Bottom Line: If I am not going to take time to appreciate my body, no one else will. I am not trying to sound vain, but you got to remember I hope to meet someone special someday. While I am sure Mr. Right will be able to look passed these flaws, I feel that it will say that I don’t care enough about myself to take care of myself. How can I be trusted to take care of him and his needs if I am not caring for myself?
Goals: Apply coconut oil after shower or bath. Regularly apply coconut or almond oil to my hands, especially after washing dishes. Mini mani-pedi once every week or two. Detox bath weekly. Do one hair treatment a month. Monthly massage – the true “spoil myself” luxury item since I can’t do that myself.
Welcome to Supermom Extraordinaire! Check in everyday for new posts. I love to share recipes, crafts, activities, fitness and health tips, household tips and DIY. Join me on Motivational Mondays as I rediscover myself in a new chapter of my life. I am always looking for new recipes so feel free share in the comments. Don't forget to like and share posts so more people can enjoy it. 
Supermom Extraordinaire 