"ME" Time

I typically walk Blue every morning for 3 kms. We go at a quick pace. When I first started these walks with Blue I hated them. Cold and dark and I was tired. 6 a.m., freezing cold, tromping through snow, sometimes windy. Me dressed in multiple layers - snow pants, sweaters, winter coat, winter hat, scarf. Man it was bad some days. But he needed the walks. And in January, Kevin went away to work which left me solely repsonsible to get Blue's walks in. I know I adjusted. Some days I hated them but most of the time I felt better afterwards. Little did I know I would eventually HAVE to have them in life because I had created a new habit.

A few days after Kevin came back, he ended up being awake early with me. (Yes unusual - he's a sleeper whereas I am a morning person.) So Kevin, thinking he was being nice and helping me out, said not to worry about Blue, he would take him for his walk. I said uhm ok . . . and then 3 minutes later I said, ahh no, it's ok I'll take him. I want, no need to take him. In those few minutes I realized that my day NEEDS to start with that walk now. I had ingrained a good habit that made me feel better all around. I didn't know it until that moment though. Never once had it occured to me that I had created this habit. Not until someone tried to take it away from me.

I have read many different places and many different times that it takes about 30 days to create a habit. Until now I never realized how true that was.

Sure I could stay in bed but I would be missing out on my morning exercise. The company of Blue - not talking back lol, birds singing, the quiet of the paths without the busy-ness of people, the lack of lots of car traffic. It is peaceful and it makes me feel soo good. Not in a euphoric way but in a subtle way. It's MY time. Time that is being used in a good way. Not in front of computer or tv - that is not enjoyable in the same way.

What is your "ME" time? If you don't have one - GET ONE!

We, as women especially, don't do enough for ourselves. We do A LOT for everyone else. Our family - be it kids or husbands or parents, our jobs, our friends even. Sometimes it is hard for us to say "No I'm sorry I can't". But in order to be a complete happy person ourselves we must find our own time or our own thing. We must make it priority. We deserve that. You must make time for it or it won't do you any good. It has to be YOUR thing.

Recently I almost gave in to a Sunday ball team that I wanted NOTHING to do with. Kevin played on it last year and we discussed it in the winter and I had said no we can't play on it this season because of all our other commitments. If he wanted to play for that team, then we had to give up another one. Seems he forgot we had that conversation and semi committed. I reminded him we had this conversation and I didn't think it was a good idea and definitely not a good idea for me. All week I pondered this team and what I was going to do and how hard I would put my foot down. It was worrying me because I usually do everything Kevin wants. But I knew it would eventually cause problems and make me angry. So later I asked him about it again and he said "No, I'm not doing it. I told them I could come out to sub but not commit full time." YES! I like it when he actually listens to me and my concerns.

The moral of this story is that it reminds me that WE really do know what's best for us but we override our gut feelings to do what we "think" we should be doing instead. Don't always think - just do! Find something for you and do it regularly. We need down time and stress release too.