Putting In The Time

I've really been struggling lately with making the time for the things that are really important to me. I'm not really sure why. I think that sometimes I get overwhelmed with my life (especially if I am over scheduled) and I either just kind of shut down mentally, or I work on small things while I let the big things pile up and stress me out. Sometimes I think that my coping mechanism when I am stressed is to do as many random and insignificant tasks as possible, while avoiding the big things I should be working on. I suppose that way I still feel productive, but can still avoid dealing with things I don't want to deal with. Of course, this method never works and I just end up feeling more stressed and anxious, but man, is it hard to look at yourself and your habits objectively and try to make changes. Sigh.

So, what it comes down to is that I just need to start holding myself more accountable and just PUT IN THE TIME to work on the bigger things. I know that I'll be less stressed out and then actually have time for the little things. When I was working, it was easier to have someone else holding me accountable for things. Now that I'm staying at home, I'm finding that it's hard to be so self disciplined!

Now that my race is over and I don't have to just train for endurance, I would really like to focus on eating better and getting in shape. I have a hard time focusing on both. I know they should go hand in hand, but I have never been able to tackle making both a priority. I didn't lose any weight when I was training for the Myrtle Beach half marathon, but once the race was cancelled and I took a month off from training, I lost 15 lbs! It was just because I felt like I could focus on my eating. I am someone who can workout all I want, but if I'm not eating well, I won't lose weight.

I really want to keep running right now, but seriously, it's been over 100 degrees in Charleston lately and I would probably pass out if I tried to go out and run. So, last night I started the P90X workout with my husband in our garage. He's been doing it for three months now, and we've already had to go buy him new (smaller) pants! I just kind of put him in charge of my workouts. He made up the spreadsheets to track my reps and weight used for different exercises, he has us following the workout plan, all I have to do is show up. This means that I don't have to feel overwhelmed about planning workouts, AND, I don't have to hold myself accountable for actually working out. I'm not going to let Matt work out in the garage while I'm home doing something else, just because I don't feel like it. The buddy system works for me.

My biggest issue with eating healthy is lack of planning. If I actually plan meals and grocery shop accordingly, I'll eat relatively healthy. If not, well, then I tend to eat pretty poorly. I usually blame my lack of planning on being over scheduled, but really, I find the time to be lazy, or surf the internet or watch a show on Netflix, so I definitely have the time to meal plan.

I think that I'm going to start setting aside a "planning period" for myself on Sunday afternoons while Andy is napping. I might even leave the house so that I'm not distracted by other things, but it will give me some time to plan my week, plan our meals and feel less stressed with the start of each new week.

Oh, ya, and I'm crossing two things off my list...

#1 I submitted our railing application to our HOA. We would like to add some railings to our front porch. Of course, this has to get approved by the HOA, and because they want as much of our money as possible, you have to pay a $75 fee for architectural reviews... this is good for 1 calendar year. We had to pay this last year when we got our fence approved, so while we are covered for another week, I figured I'd better get our application in! We may decide not to do the railings, but at least the request is in. I know it sounds like we must live in some fancy gated community since they are so ridiculous about approving anything we plant in the yard and charging the review fees etc... but WE DON'T!!!! It drives me crazy! The HOA says it's because the builder still has control of the neighborhood and since they are still building and selling houses they want to make sure the neighborhood has a certain "feel"... blah blah blah. It does not use $75 worth of anyone's time to decide if we can plant an azalea!!!

and...

#2 I re-programmed our thermostats. This was easy since I organized all my manuals! The old Colleen would have spent an hour searching for the manual to be able to do this! Anyway, somehow our downstairs thermostat was set for 71 degrees at night!!! Craziness! We don't even need the air on downstairs at night. So, even though I try to remember to turn it off at night, if I don't then we are wasting a WHOLE bunch of electricity! Anyway... it's done.

Geesh! This was a long post! I'll be surprised if anyone is still reading it!