Me Time

The meeting this weekend at Weight Watchers was all about taking time for yourself. They said that if you don't learn to put yourself first and say "no" sometimes you are hurting yourself and, in the long run, not going to be able to take care of others.

I started jotting down my typical day on my note pad. My thinking was this, I complain about not having enough time for this or that, so maybe if I put it all down on paper I will see where there is an open block of time that I could use for a workout or reading or something else for just me.

Here are the results:

4-4:30am - nurse Smug-Baby
4:30-5:15am - get ready for work. This includes a shower, getting dressed, packing the diaper bag and my food for the day. I also try to do a quick straighten up of the house and make sure all the dishes are at least rinsed out as to not attract ants while I am gone all day.
5:15-6am - drive to work. This also will often include a side trip to the bank to make a deposit, the gas station, Kroger or Wall-mart. It is faster to get these things done in the morning without Smug-Baby in tow since she hates getting into and out of the car seat so much.
6-10am - work
10-10:15am - the bank deposit for work
10:15-10:30am - drive to Smug-Sister's house
10:30am-4:30pm - babysit. This is sometimes downtime of sorts. The babies play, nurse, nap and so on. I often take them for a walk in the double stroller or take them for a drive to get them to fall asleep. While they are sleeping, I can park and doze or read for a bit. That is kinda nice "me" time.
4:30-5pm - drive home or to the nursing home to visit with gramps.
5:30 - home now, go though the mail, straighten up the house (it is amazing how much one daddy and one baby girl can distroy it in the mornings), I try to use this time to play with and focus on Smug-Baby fully. She has been sharing me with her cousin all day, and normally needs some quality time with me, so we play. I sometimes try to do a chore or task in this time and workout if she is playing happily on her own.
6:30-7:30pm - make dinner and clean up the cooking dishes
7:30-8pm, Smug-Hub is home and we all have dinner together
8-8:30pm - bath time for Smug-Baby. I get her playing and then I brush my teeth, wash my face and put on pj's, then I get the bed turned down, phone on the charger and the nightlight turned on. Then I wash my little girl and she plays until she is ready to get out, then we get dried and lotioned up, brush her hair and teeth.
8:30-9pm - Smug-Baby nurses while Smug-Hub and I watch a little TV. Once she is asleep, I take her and crawl into bed. I am usually dragging by now, so we let daddy tuck us in and off to dreamland we go!

After reading my normal day, I thought OK what about weekends. Well, weekends consist of yard work, house cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking ahead some, car maintenance, and everything else that doesn't fit into the week day. So, I started getting frustrated! Where would I find the time for this all important "me time"!?!?!

Then, I looked back over my day. I get to wake up next to the sweetest sleeping baby, I get to have a long, hot, uninterrupted shower every morning. I get to enjoy some tunes on the way to work. I get to work with great people and have nice adult interactions. Then, I get to leave and spend the whole day with my baby girl!! I have designed my whole life to be just exactly the way I want it to be! Yes, I have times when both babies are crying and then I start and they stop to look at me with worried expressions, but all in all I get to live this incredible life that is just what I want it to be!! My whole life is "me time"!!

The whole point of the meeting was that you need to make time for yourself because you are worthy. You are worthy of time to workout, time for food prep, time for the meetings, etc. If you don't think that you are worth it, you will never lose weight. I get that, and I do really want to find time a few days a week for a good workout. However, I love myself and I do feel that I am worthy. That is why I created my perfect life, because I want to be happy, doing exactly what I want to do with my day all the time, every day - and I do! Look back at that schedule, it is full of me doing selfishly everything that I want to do. Go Me Time!!