Friday, December 14, 2007

Dear Santa,

AAARG it's Christmas!


YES! I LOVE CHRISTMAS! i love christmas trees, lights, stockings, holly, carolers, nativity scenes, cookies(duh!), everything about christmas...except the LACK of extra hours in the day! i have been doing so good, so great with my NEW ME, new weight-loss, new exercise program. make that HAD been doing do great. and now i am bombarded with too many things to accomplish in a day to get to my ME time. i am not saying i want christmas to go away. i just want santa to bring me some extra time...slip it silently into my stocking (which usually is filled on christmas eve with just candy and nuts). i wish i could keep working out 3 days a week. i had hoped that december would not only bring me christmas joy but also 5 DAYS OF WORKOUTS PER WEEK, weight loss AND more muscle tone.


how many of us work really hard at making sure our families enjoy the christmas holiday and have the perfect book of memories at the end of it all? sacrificing ourselves along the way. i don't think it's WRONG to do so...but, how can we DO IT ALL?


so, today i'm at the gym thinking about all the things i could be getting done at my house. and as my ipod is shuffling through my music, "be yourself" by audioslave comes on while i'm doing my situps and i start to think "to be yourself is all that you can do..." and i resolved to just be myself. it is what it is.


i just wish santa could give me a little time to workout EVERY DAY this month--that's what i want for christmas. or, i'd settle for world peace.

9 comments:

noelle said...

I hear ya! The life of a mama. I never thought I had it in me to do all that I do, but somehow it gets done.

But taking care of yourself is a huge gift to give to your kiddos, too. It teaches them a great lesson for later in life...as well as that mama is worth a lot to herself.

Given Grace said...

I also can relate with your post. I do love Christmas and all that comes with it...but when it gets to this point sometimes I start dreaming about Jan. I start telling myself how much more I will be relaxed and how I will not be tempted by all this food. The days of "in January I can..."

Enjoy your Christmas and "be yourself." I hope your stocking is filled with that extra time AND world peace!!

Julie said...

i've learned (in all my years of wisdom) that if you don't take care of yourself now, you won't be as good of a mom! so good for you and keep it up! and don't worry about doing IT ALL.

Unknown said...

I don't think we're "sacrificing ourselves along the way," I think we're creating who we are by the things we Do make time for.

BUT, are the things you make time to do the things you want to do? In other words, is who you are who you want to be? If not, make a conscious effort to prioritize your precious time.

However, sometimes we have to put our priorities on hold for a more pressing matter. For example, you are spending time as a family on the beach (hopefully a high priority) and you see a child in the water drowning. Most of us would put aside our high priority for a moment to take care of a more pressing matter.

This is often true as we struggle to keep balance in our lives. New babies/responsibilities sometimes demand more from us than we want to, or sometimes can, give. Our long-term priorities make a temporary shift to accommodate a more pressing matter.

The important thing to consider is: are you still moving toward the person you want to be?

If so, then no sweat -- or in your case, MORE sweat in the future as you are able to workout more!

Once again, you rock, Anna!

Unknown said...

I don't think we're "sacrificing ourselves along the way," I think we're creating who we are by the things we Do make time for.

BUT, are the things you make time to do the things you want to do? In other words, is who you are who you want to be? If not, make a conscious effort to prioritize your precious time.

However, sometimes we have to put our priorities on hold for a more pressing matter. For example, you are spending time as a family on the beach (hopefully a high priority) and you see a child in the water drowning. Most of us would put aside our high priority for a moment to take care of a more pressing matter.

This is often true as we struggle to keep balance in our lives. New babies/responsibilities sometimes demand more from us than we want to, or sometimes can, give. Our long-term priorities make a temporary shift to accommodate a more pressing matter.

The important thing to consider is: are you still moving toward the person you want to be?

If so, then no sweat -- or in your case, MORE sweat in the future as you are able to workout more!

Once again, you rock, Anna!

Unknown said...

Ok, this is not my computer and it did something crazy!! Sorry for the repeat, but it does make the comments look really long, though -- hehe.

Jewels said...

Anna! Hey there - it's Julia, Andrea's sister. Do you remember me? I popped over here after I saw your comment on her Blog. Anyhoo, I can totally relate to your post! I also have two kids - a son who is almost 3 and another son who is just 3 months - and this Christmas season is so insane. Cache is really starting to 'get' Christmas, so naturally I want to make it all magical and special for him...but I feel like I'm losing my mind in the process. My work out program has completely taken back seat to Holiday frivolity, but you are right - we can only be ourselves, and that's the best. Whoa - sure didn't mean for this comment to be so long, sorry about that! Sounds like you're doing well!

Alisa said...

My life if way beyond what I can handle right now- with Christmas and the work on the house we are doing. I felt this morning like I was going to go insane, there were some tears. Some days I can handle it all better than others. I have given up on exercise for a time. I guess the labor of installing wood floors for 9 hours(literally) is a pretty good workout.

Unknown said...

I am so there with you and I am not a mom!! I have done horrible with Swizzlepop's December challenge. My goal was 5/week...and I haven't made it yet!!

I am so thankful that today is a snow day!! No school for me! I can get something done!