Excuse #2 - I Don't Have Enough Time... [Part 2]

Okay kids, I finally have time to finish this.

Back to making time a priority in your life. You may say you want to be healthy, but you don't have enough time to do so. Really? We talked about going through your day hour by hour to see what you could squeeze out of there, but really, what is your time spent on? Are you saying 'yes' to too many people? Are you involved in too many things? Do you do things just because no one else will?

Believe me, I am guilty of all of the above. My biggest time is being a parent, taking them to and from places, volunteering at school and PTSA's, teaching them, spending time with them. It is very easy to get over-involved, esp. if you have more than one child. It's great for your child to be involved in activities, but sometimes it goes overboard. Do they really need to do 2 or 3 sports a season, along with outside school clubs, music lessons, etc, until you spend every spare minute taking them someplace? Sometimes you have to just sit down and pare down your responsibilities. If you are a mom who is frazzled and spends your life doing that - taking them from place to place - think about what you are teaching your child: To be frazzled. To be disorganized. To feel like they have to run from event to event, stressed out, grabbing fast food. You think the burden is all on you, but is it?

Sometimes you just have to say 'no'. I know it's hard. But your time is your time. All of us have the exact same number of hours in a day to do something with it. As far as being fit and living a healthy life, you need to spend time doing that. You need:

-20-30 minutes a day to exercise
-20-30 minutes a day to prepare meals
-1 hour a week to plan exercise and meals for the week

That doesn't sound terribly hard, right? Then why do we complain about time while we sit on the couch at night and watch tv? Why is our health failing and we are continuing to get fatter and fatter? Why do we keep getting more and more depressed? Do you think it's just going to POP - get all better one day? You're just magically going to have time, maybe when the kids graduate? Moms today are in a caretaker mode, but they need to understand an important function of being a caretaker:


You need to take care of yourself SO you can better take care of others.

You need to take the time to exercise, take the time to prepare meals, take the time once a week to plan each of those.

Friends, like I said in Part 1, listen to what you are telling your body [and others] each day. If you keep making excuses, then your body is listening and saying to itself "Hey, we get another pass today, relax". But how is this affecting your emotions? How is this affecting your well-being? How do you feel when you look in the mirror in the morning? Are you disappointed by your body?

One last thing...when I say look in the mirror, I do NOT believe that this is all about HOW YOU LOOK. On the contrary. This is about fitness, not being skinny. This is about health, not being pretty. True beauty comes from the inside. And so does being true to yourself. Taking time for yourself. Making time to do the things that you know in your heart you need to do.

Please make time this week to start from the inside. I know you can do it.

[I need to hear from you if these posts are making a difference in your life. Leave me a comment OR a suggestion for future posts. Stay tuned for more excuses, including "I can't afford a personal trainer"...tell me your excuse so I can blog about it. If you don't want to leave a comment, email me personally at sandi@startwiththeinside.com]