I don’t know about you, but for a great number of my friends and I, 2009 was a pivotal year – a time of changes and self-reflection. It set the bar for 2010 and so now, more than a few of us are sitting here with mental checklists of people, habits and ways of thinking we should adopt or wave goodbye to. Apparently, resolutions are made to be broken, so let’s call them lifestyle changes, shall we?
I have a large tally of Dos and Don’ts that fall under a few key areas: my career, family, finances, health and future. If I counted those as resolutions and set the start clock at midnight, January 1st, I’d probably have quit already.
But I didn’t, and you don’t have to, either. Resolve to… as of January 1st, that is.
All you have to do is do. Not make promises, leave lists lying around where you’ll see them, or clear out the cupboards of anything made of the devil’s ingredient of the moment. Just seek out action, and you’ll get a reaction. From that reaction will come more actions, because accomplishment’s pretty much the best feeling in the world and you’ll want more of it.
There’s one thing every mom raising a family can be faulted for: not being selfish enough. Are you one of the ones that gets to the end of the day and finds a mug of coffee in the microwave from the morning, the second time she reheated it? Who ponders how she’ll fit in dance, sports, music, school, baking and scout activities, while still having time to spend with her partner and/or best friend? Do you ever put yourself first, woman?
How can you? Here’s the prescription:
1. Take a bubble bath. I’m not talking about squeezing bubbles into a bathtub and sitting, while feverishly shaving your legs and conditioning your hair before the day begins. I mean, put some bubbles in the tub, fill it up to near over-flowing, grab a glass of wine or a mug of tea and soak for thirty minutes, like your life depends on it. Take before bed.
2. Walk, going nowhere. If you must (or want to) take your family, dog, or mother-in-law, do, but set out in comfortable clothes and shoes and be aimless. Don’t pick up a few things or tackle any errands and don’t use it as an excuse to visit your closest Starbucks. Just walk – maybe with a camera, maybe with an iPod, maybe with just yourself. Listen to the blood in your ears and breathe in air without aide of air conditioning or central heating. Practice for at least 30 minutes, preferably in sublight.
3. Unclutter everything. What should you keep, and what deserves trashing or long-term storage? We all have people in our lives that take more energy than they merit – maybe you need to downgrade a friend to acquaintance level because she’s lacking trustworthiness or integrity. We all have things stashed that we don’t need to pay rent on. Perhaps getting rid of the clutter in your home and workspace would allow you to work more efficiently, or even consider living in a smaller space to save a few bucks or upgrade in neighbourhood. We have ways of going about our everyday that just don’t work for us, so maybe writing and re-writing to-do lists is wasting your time, when you could just be accomplishing everything that you’re writing on them. Invest 30 minutes during the kid-free parts of the day (or night).
Choose to do, friends, starting with you.
 About the AuthorTerra (aka Zoeyjane) is a single mom to a crazed nymph of a preschooler in Vancouver. After rocking at making rich people more money, selling them shiny shoes and helping them deal with their unimpressed clients, something made her think parenthood might come easy. She’s since learned her lesson, with a lot of time outs along the way. When she’s not trying to get the yelling to stop and ignoring the jumping of a child high on agave syrup, she works from home as a freelance writer and small business consultant, blogs on various sites and remains active in social media. Profile | Her Main Site | Follow Her on Twitter |