Which way to the gym?
I’m currently on maternity leave with a 6 week old and a 2 year old, so it can be extremely difficult to find time to just “Be with myself.” Because of this, I was sort of stumped about what to do for this month’s challenge, and then I realized that I already have been doing something that’s for me and only me this month – I’m getting back into my workout routine! Sure, Stella works out with me sometimes, but not always, and almost every day I’m trying to do an exercise video or jump on the elliptical machine and watch mindless reality TV for a few minutes while I just let my muscles feel the burn. It’s awesome!
I suppose this is cheating a little bit because it’s true that I’m doing this not only for my own health & happiness but also to be a healthy inspiration for my kids. However, I’m not doing this directly for them, so I’m going to go ahead and count it as my “start small” challenge.
I used to think working out had to include at least 45-60 minutes of cardio and/or gym time. Now that I have two little kids, I’m realizing that (for now) finding a chunk of time that long is almost always an impossibility, especially with nursing a newborn, so I’m going to work on being okay with doing just 20 minutes of daily exercise and know that those 20 minutes are FOR ME and NECESSARY and such a good thing for my physical, mental, and emotional health.
So there ya go – I’m starting small with my exercise goals this month. What have you done to start small?
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This is the newest installment in my Who Needs It? Decluttering Series (a year long decluttering challenge organized by the lovely SRB).
Challenge 1: Fess Up 
Area 1: The Master Bedroom
Challenge 2: Get Real
Area 2: The Bathrooms
Area 3: The Kitchen Drawers & Pantry
Challenge #3: Start Small
Clean out your internal junk drawer a little bit. Take some time to yourself, for just yourself. Where you are not doing anything for anybody else. At all.
I was going suggest an hour, but let’s start even smaller. 30 minutes. Even 15 minutes, but no less. 15 minutes to just BE with yourself, doing something for yourself and no one else. A chance to let the dust settle just a little, to look inside yourself just a little bit. I don’t want to put too many restrictions on (*stay* small!) but I do have a few!
- be by yourself
- put your phone away
- kill one bird with one stone (no doing anything directly for anyone else)