Your Goals, Your Priorities, Your Success
5am wake up, make lunches for kids, get kids off to school, successfully make it to work on time, put in a full day at the office, pick kids up from school, throw in a load of laundry, make supper for family, get kids off to soccer practice, help kids with homework, get kids to bed, complete small list of chores that we’ve been tactfully avoiding all week and thankfully fall into bed exhausted around 10 or 11pm only to do it all again the following morning. Not to mention the endless list of PTA meetings, work papers pilling up and further obligations that we’ve unwillingly signed ourselves up for. If this sounds like your life, you’re not alone and unfortunately, this kind of lifestyle often leaves us feeling drained and unfulfilled.
Hear me out, I’m definitely not saying that your family is a burden or that your children should not be a priority in your life! However, sometimes, we get so wrapped up in doing for others, that we forget to take care of something vitally important- ourselves. You cannot pour from the proverbial “empty cup”. Imagine what it would look like to your kids and family to see their mother or father looking and feeling their best and having that translate into their daily lives. Even if it meant saying no to certain things. Here’s the thing, we stretch ourselves so thin in our day to day lives, that we rarely have time to sit and enjoy the moment anymore, be it alone with ourselves or with family and friends. We’ve become so accustom to running this “rat race” that we often loose out on the special moments in life. One thing I have learned, is that sometimes if we want to do things well, we need to do less things. Sometimes we need to learn to say NO. This can be difficult, especially if you’re a people pleaser or if you’re having to learn to say it to you’re children. Realistically speaking, there isn’t a parent out there that doesn’t want to give their children everything and more, to go above and beyond! However, when we live as a family unit, sometimes that means making sacrifices for each other. Even if that means children need to sacrifice a bit of their own time so mommy or daddy can have some personal time to themselves. It doesn’t make you a bad parent and it shouldn’t come with feelings of guilt. Remember, your life didn’t stop the moment you became a parent. To be clear, when mom and dad are taking care of themselves, they are capable of functioning at their best and this also transcends into their every day lives including parenting. You may wonder what I’m getting at.
The number one reason people claim for not working out is….. you guessed it…. TIME! Time is always of the essence. Let me be perfectly blunt about this fallacy right now, time is not what is holding you back. Everybody has the same 24 hours in a day and it’s all about how you choose to prioritize it. Making time to workout is like anything else in this world, if it’s important to you, you’ll find the time to do it. If it’s not, you’ll find an excuse. However, be smart about your time management. I don’t always have 2 hours to go to the gym and sometimes I don’t want to invest that kind of time before heading to work later that day, but I might do an hour workout video from my living room or go for a forty minute run. Also, do I workout every day? Hell no! I work 12 hour shifts and I speak quite honestly when I say, working out is the last thing on my mind when I get home at night. I don’t, however, use that as an excuse to not train. I look at my schedule ahead of time and see where I can get my exercise in 3-4 days a week.
I can hear all you stay at home moms now. The single moms and the working moms with three and four kids to go home to every night. Nobody is arguing the fact that you have a very important, if not exhausting job to do! However, when we make a commitment to ourselves to look and feel the best that we possible can, we do our best to look for solutions. Did you know that most Gym’s these days come with child minding facilities that are included in your membership? What’s better than dropping the kids off for one or two hours while you work on your own personal wellness! If that isn’t an option, look for other solutions. Are you working out at home? What about working out on weekends when we tend to have more free time? What about squeezing in a workout early in the morning before the kids wake up and your busy day gets started. I found that particularly useful when I was first getting fit and making healthy changes. If my workout was the first thing I did in the morning, I couldn’t make excuses to put it off later. Granted, forming new habits in the beginning can be a real challenge but seeing results are motivating! Set the goal, visualize the result and make it happen.
The second biggest excuse people make for not working out is MONEY. This is another huge road block that we need to take off the table right away. First of all, health is an investment. YOU are an investment! The saying holds true that if you don’t make time for your wellness, you will eventually be forced to make time for your illness. However, we as humans tend to ignore these sentiments to live in the here and the now. Trust me when I say, you don’t even realize how bad you feel, until you’ve experienced how great you can feel through diet and exercise. Our bodies are like well oiled machines and they function according to what we fuel them with. Wouldn’t you rather make the investment now while you’re still in relatively good health and before we’re fighting disease. Aren’t you worth that investment?! It’s no secret and science has proven that exercise combined with a healthy diet will “lower your BMI, give you a stronger heart, better your cholesterol, fight the effects of aging, boost the immune system, reduce stress, improve sleep, and improve sexual function” – marquemedical among others.
This is definitely not a ploy to sell you personal training. While I strongly believe in the proven benefits and outcome of personal training, I will willingly admit that personal training itself can become costly for some. However, a regular gym membership might cost you anywhere from $10-$50 a month depending on where you go. Some of these gyms have amazing benefits and access to a wide variety of fitness classes which are included in your membership. They offer up so much variety and you’re guaranteed to get a great workout from a knowledgeable, certified instructor. Also, just because you aren’t necessarily paying for personal training doesn’t mean you can’t ask questions. That’s what they’re there for.
Still not convinced? Don’t be discouraged. The gym isn’t for everybody and that’s ok! But don’t let it stop you from living a healthier lifestyle. I’ve become a huge fan of at home workouts over the years and luckily, YouTube has tons of channels that offer up FREE workouts. I mean, thousands of free workouts that apply to every learner. There are multiple channels for yoga, no equipment, little equipment, small space, dance, whatever you’re looking for. Also, there are free apps that you can download right onto your phone with some really great at home workouts as well. I’ve used them myself. Sunny day, go for a run or a walk that really gets your heart pumping. Own a bike? Dig that out of the shed and take the kids with you. Then everyone is exercising together under the disguise of fun and family activity at…..surprise…. no cost!
What we first need to do is set the goal and then make it a priority without excuse. Believe me, I’ve heard it all “I can’t afford it, I need someone to motivate me but I can’t afford a trainer, I don’t like working out at home, I don’t know what to do”. Sometimes I get all of these excuses from the same person. Bottom line is this is a person who is not really ready to commit to their wellness, at least not yet. But what if I told you that at the end of those excuses, you’re going to be healthier, you’ll feel amazing, you’re going to sleep better, you’re going to have more energy, you’ll look better, you’ll be capable of new things and you’ll be proud of yourself. Does that make it worth it? There comes a point where we need to stop doubting ourselves, stop putting our wellbeing last and realize that our health is the single most important thing we have in life and start putting that first. We need to start valuing health for what it really is.
