Category: Balanced Life

Balancing every-day life in mind, body and soul. Bringing practicality to your busy life.

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The Rest in Your Story

 

 

The Rest in Your Story

 

I. Am. So. Tired. Period.

Today was one of those days.

I have a schedule. I get up every morning at 6:15-6:30am and I fill a Mason quart jar with hot water and drink that while I get dressed for the gym. I tell my 11-year-old he’s got 10 minutes until we have to leave to catch the bus. When I get back inside, I eat breakfast and head to the gym by 7:30am. By 9am I am heading back home to shower and get ready for work, which is between 10 and 10:30am.

I have a high-energy job that requires me to be on my feet non-stop until I get off work between 2:30-4:00pm. When I get home, it’s eat lunch, cook dinner, kids homework, laundry, make the next day’s breakfast, do some dishes, run some errands, grocery shop, and get kids winding down for bed by 7:00pm.

This sort of day takes a lot of energy of which I haven’t had lately because I have been watching Game of Thrones with my brother and boyfriend until midnight. But it’s soooo good, I can’t stop!

Problem.

One can only do this sort of thing for so long before you have a day like I did today.

I couldn’t function. I slept in. We missed the school bus. I missed my workout. I got to work late. I couldn’t get on my game at work and when I finally got home, I was grumpy and said some things that weren’t nice to my boyfriend, because all I wanted to do was nothing, and I wanted to come home to everything done for me.

Rest.

We have to have good quality sleep, or else the rest of our day falls apart and the balance is off.

It doesn’t matter how much coffee you drink or what you take to go to sleep. If you don’t get enough, your energy is going to be low, which affects the rest of your day and all that surrounds it. A grumpy mom makes for grumpy kids and husband or partner.

Rest is one thing. But good rest is another.

Wait though… I’m not just talking about sleep. There’s also the sort of rest that we need to take from the gym for our muscles to repair. There’s a mental time out that we need to re-set for the week. Our minds need rest from all that is coming in, away from electronics, noise, kids, etc.

Come along with me on this journey to a happy, healthy lifestyle of balance and learn how to put the rest in your story! You’ll be surprised how you start to achieve goals simply with a good night of sleep and some mental time out.

I’ll even show you some ways to get that fabulous night sleep and make time to rest, without chugging a bottle of wine before bed, or sacrificing your favorite TV show. (Well, maybe).

More coming soon!

Please feel free to comment below, contact me on social media and follow me here! I love hearing from my readers. 🙂 I am on Facebook, Instagram, E-mail, Twitter, Pinterest and balance8life.

 

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Fresh Air For Your Mood

 

 

Fresh Air For Your Mood

Yesterday my son came home from school saying that a kid in his class threatened to hack his IEQ, internet and security and put his “mom and dad in jail”.

That’s some serious business. We got out the computer and Googled IEQ. We figured out that there was no such thing as an IEQ and that he meant ICQ. His threat was that he was going to hack our internet and get ahold of our SSN’s and do some damage. This coming from a 5thgrader, I knew it was no serious threat, but as time crawled and the tears and worry and pure anxiety would not cease, I realized something major had to be done.

I went to great lengths to explain that this classmate could not hurt us. I explained that he didn’t even know our names, where we lived, or anything about us, and therefore couldn’t do anything even if he wanted to. I also explained what a SSN is and what an IQ is and that it takes a good bit of IQ to do such damage.

But alas, the anxiety grew and his thoughts kept going to darker and darker places.

It was time for some fresh air!

You might be wondering why fresh air is such an important element in the progression to complete balance in having a healthy lifestyle, and I get it.

The thing is, when you’re a mom with a kid, or a bunch of kids, locked up in your house with all of the windows closed and no fresh air circulating, the air gets stale, and so can your mood. It also affects the moods of our little ones, as I mentioned above. This applies to the working mom (or dad) as well.

Any time in doors with little to no fresh air is 
detrimental to the mental state as well as other things.

I know for myself that if I am indoors for too long, I start to think too much about all of the things I am doing wrong and all of the things I wish I could do, or do better, or even things I want (but don’t need) and I become unhappy. I feel lazy and get tired. I feel dull and my creativity plummets. I start to even feel down about life in general and down about myself, comparing myself to others. It can be a downward spiral to a place that’s not too fun to be in.

And this happens to our children as well.

Yesterday was one of those days. It has been raining non-stop these days and my kids have been inside way too much. But yesterday the sun was out! So we packed up two sets of light weight dumbbells, two Nalgene bottles of water, a rip stick and a skateboard, and hit the park. Just the mention of going to the park lightened the mood of all parties involved!

Within 10 minutes we had tears turned to smiles. Negativity had ceased and the bigger picture engulfed the worry and turned it into irrelevant apprehension.

Of course getting our minds off our troubles cannot happen that quickly and easily for all of us. But the importance of fresh air is significant for balance in our lives. And it’s rare that some free things really are that amazing! Wink.

Read more about how to Will Power Your Way Through a Bad Day here, and how to Be Real (Positive)!

We all need perspective and quiet time to let things go and focus some place else. Getting outside in the fresh air is a great place to start.

As we journey down this path to healthy habits and lifestyle, you’ll start to see how a little fresh air is not only a great, natural, mood enhancer, but is super easy to get! Add that with the fact that it’s FREE! Who can beat that!?

How have you managed to get your fresh air today? And did you feel a difference in yourself, or see a difference in your children? I’d love to hear from you! I am on Facebook, Instagram, E-mail, Twitter, Pinterest and balance8life.