Investing In Yourself

Investing in your health takes time. It’s necessary, but sometimes fitting in that daily hour (or even thirty minutes) can seem taxing on your busy schedule. So how can you find time to put some of the work back in your work out?

Audiobooks

I run twice a day. Once in the morning to jump start my brain, and again in the evening to unwind and spend time with my puppies. Although I love the sound of nature, sometimes I can’t enjoy my runs because I have so much else going on: I want to learn about this; I’d love to read that.

“How I Got My Body Back After Baby!!” the headline screams. The picture of a new celeb mom’s impossibly toned and tanned physique grabs your eye as you wait in the grocery store’s checkout line.

Yeah right, huh? You're right: to shed post-baby poundage, that celebrity probably had access to an incredible personal trainer and a fabulous private chef (who only prepared the yummiest low-cal diet food possible).

I have not always been a dog person. In fact, I was a cat person for most of my life. Dogs were an animal I only tolerated, so when I found myself working briefly as a veterinary assistant, I was sure I would fall in love with all the cats and endure the dogs. The opposite actually happened. I fell in love with a customer’s blue Great Dane, and all large breed dogs became my preference over cats.

Princely Devotion and Despair

As moms, we take care of everybody in our family: our kids, our spouses, our pets. It's in our job description, and it's just what we do. So . . . who's taking care of you? More specifically, who is looking after your health? So often, we'll meet others' needs well before even thinking about our own. Get a healthy snack for Junior's soccer practice. Check. Make sure Fido's dog food is certified organic. Check. Send the hubby a reminder text that his eye appointment is at 5. Check. Sound familiar?

For years, I had heard about my brother, who is some years older than me, and his high school buddies meeting once a year for a long weekend guys' trip.  One year it was in Vegas, another it was skiing in Colorado, and another was the sunny shores of Florida.  Then, I heard that Nancy, my sister-in-law, did the same sort of thing with a group of her friends - an annual girls' retreat of sorts. 

Making time for yourself.  It's a lovely thought, right?  On this site, we've established that it's healthy and needed in any mom's life.  We've even thrown out some ideas on how to carve out an inexpensive hour for yourself while the kids are entertained.  Now, it's time to reclaim some at-home, after-the-sun-goes-down, adult-only time (for yourself or even to share with that special someone).  If bedtime at your

Making time for yourself.  That really did sound good when you read it in an earlier post on this site.  With the new year upon us, what better time is there to put this idea into practice?  If you're shaking your head at your screen and saying: "Melinda's nuts!  I have no time, next to no money and what time and money I do have is eaten by the kids!"  Take heart, moms.  I have a few ideas that will give you some super cheap ways for both you and your kids to get a break.

Sometimes you just need a reminder that you're doing a good job...and so does everyone else. I was reminded of this the other night when my hubby and I finally got around to watching the Thanksgiving episode of one of our favorite TV shows -- NBC's "Parenthood."

You might be thinking, what on earth does a TV show have to do with investing in anything?  But one particular scene in this Thanksgiving episode really got me to thinking about moms in general, and about how much we need to support and invest in each other. Let me set the stage:

Picture this, if you will.  It's any given day in Anytown, USA.  More specifically, it's early evening, also known affectionately as "the witching hour" to some.  You know what time I'm talking about:  your kiddos are fighting with each other if they're not whining and clinging to your legs.   You're trying to get dinner to the table after another hectic day, and your dear hubby is relaxing in front of the tube.  And he keeps turning up the volume as the kids' voices escalate.  Laundry is waiting, homework is waiting, bathtime is waiting, and don't even get started on housework.  Who among us