An Investment, Not the Money Type.

Yes. Exactly this.

This is something that I feel everyone struggles with. It seems like when I ask people, "How are you?" Everyone always responds with, "BUSY!" Busy? Busy doing what? In my group of friends it seems to boil down to two things, work & kids.

"I have this huge project at work & I've been pulling 16 hour days! I don't even have time to take a lunch break!" Uh. I'd die if I didn't eat, not to mention be extremely cranky.

"{Daughter} has dance tonight and Wednesday, gymnastics on Thursday and soccer practice on Tuesday with a double header on Saturday morning." Overachiever. HA! But really? that's a crazy busy schedule for one kid!

"{Daughter} was up crying all night, and now I'm functioning on no sleep and I have 4 meetings today at work!" This, sucks. Sorry. :(

"{Son} is on the move and I can't take my eyes off of him! {Husband} is working long hours, so it seems like I never get a break!" Welcome to being a mom of a boy, wait until he's running... and you can barely catch him....

{But really, I at the very least empathize with all of you. For real. I also toast to you for keeping up with that busy of a life, I'd lose my mind.}

Do any of these sound familiar? Is it something you've heard? Is it something you've said? Yeah, me too. It seems like everyone is always go, go, go these days.

I ask you, how many times a week do you sit down as a family and eat dinner? (even if it's takeout or pizza?!?) How often does your entire family go to the park? Or simply outside to kick around the soccer ball, together?

This is always a struggle here too & I'm even a stay at home mom for the most part! I make an attempt to have dinner as a family 3 times a week. Actually using our dining room table. And a family activity that doesn't involve the television (or other families) once a week.

Sidenote: Family dinners. This was something we did as a family every. single. night. growing up. I have no idea how my mom managed it. It was come home from school, homework, then dad came home and BOOM! dinner appeared and we all sat down. Granted, we ate a little earlier than my friends did so that we could all eat together, but it was together. We'd talk about our days & any upcoming events we had going on. Looking back, although I thought it was silly at the time, it is now something I'll always cherish.

So you start making time for your family, and you're doing all these things together. Feeling pretty proud of how close you've become and how great everything is going. But you're still stressed, still feel like you're being pulled in 30 directions and that you're constantly being rushed.

When was the last time you took time for YOU?

I would bet, especially if you have kids, that you couldn't name ten things you enjoy doing that doesn't involve doing for someone else. I know I can't. So, start with 3, then figure out five, and so on. What about things you'd like to learn? What haven't you tried that you'd like to? What would you like to get better at??

I think that many of us get lost in the craziness of life that we forget about ourselves. We rush through everything, we don't eat right, we don't exercise like we should, we're not taking care of ourselves because we're too busy taking care of everyone & everything else. And that's ok! It's life. Some people like the craziness and being busy. Personally, I always used to say that I functioned better under pressure and in a world of chaos. Then, I turned 30. And things changed.

(FYI: there will be an upcoming blog about just how to make time for exercise & how to make a healthier lifestyle work for you, that will be written by a guest blogger! Because GOD knows I haven't figured this out yet! {especially the exercise part...I only run if I'm being chased...} It's one that I'm very excited to share with you!)

I challenge you today, to make a list of things you enjoy, then, find time at least once a week to do one of those things. Even if it's only for 15 minutes.

It was a challenge I made to myself in January of this year. Make time for me. As many of you know, I lost my mom to cancer in January. She was only 54 years old. (Barely 54.) It was a HUGE wakeup call for me. Life is too short. FAR too short. I need to take time for me. I need to make myself a priority. Before I run out of time. {It has also resulted in me sometimes eating dessert first...} So, although it's a work in progress. I'm working on it. I will continue to work on it.

I'll share with you my lists so far & please! If you know them, share yours back! Maybe we can work on things as a team! Hold each other accountable!

My list of 5 things I enjoy:
1. Reading - I try and take at least an hour out of my day to read something that I like. Leisure reading.
2. Time with friends - at least once a month I leave my family at home and go out with my girlfriends. I have an amazing group of them. They're not appreciated nearly enough & I need to make time for them because they make my life (and my sanity) better.
3. Painting - This is something I've always enjoyed but rarely made time for. I'm trying to get back in the habit & have found that if I give C-man a brush and some paper he's quiet for a while!
4. Photography - This went from hobby, to career for me very quickly. I am getting back to the hobby part of it. Don't get me wrong, it never felt like 'work' for me. It was always fun, but taking photos of my kid doing what he does on a daily basis is enjoyable for me. So, I'm doing that. I'm reinventing my style and it feels great.
5. Biking - I am looking forward to nice weather & plan to do this more often this year. Sometimes with C-man, sometimes without.

& blogging, so I hope you all continue reading & giving me a reason to!

Things I want to learn:
1. Cooking - it is no secret I am a horrible cook. I can bake, but cooking has always been tough for me. I'd like to make this a healthy lifestyle change, but I'm gonna just work on learning to operate the oven/stove first.
2. Sewing - I have NO idea how I'm going to learn this, but I want to. I suppose Pinterest will be my teacher!
3. Dance - I'd really like to take a dance class. It just looks fun!

Do I manage to do these things as often as I want? Do I think that all of these will be a continuing thing for the rest of my life? Uh. Probably not. The things will change and evolve as I get older I'm sure. But I can promise you one thing, I don't think I'll ever go back to devoting 24/7 to other people. It'll be more like 23/7 and I'll take an hour for myself. :)

Now, I'm sure some of you have read this and are shaking your head and thinking that this is a selfish thing, and that I chose to get married and have a family. You're right, I did. But why does that make me any less important? If anything, it's more important to take that time to take care of me, so I can take care of them. I love my family, I love spending time with them. But taking a break once in a while makes me a better wife, mother, simply a better person. There's a reason that at most jobs you get an additional break to your lunch break. It's been PROVEN that you're more efficient. Shouldn't life be the same way? I think so.

We're only given one life, one body and one mind. The only person that can care for those things is ourselves. We can't expect anyone else to do it.

So I ask, What have you done for you lately?