taking care of me

That's what the last 2 days have been about. And the guilt, the guilt, that darn mother's guilt. Why is it its so much easier to take care of others than of oneself.

Thursday:
Left the house while my cleaning ladies, my beloved cleaning ladies did their magic. I had one when the twins were little but then she retired when they were around 2 yrs old. And then I figured, no problem, I can do it now, all of it, I'm supermom. Not. A few months back, a friend told me that her cleaning crew had an opening. Didn't take long to jump on that offer.

So while the toilet bowls and floors were getting scrubbed, I went to get my pearly whites looked after. Even got a little bleaching kit to brighten up the smile :) Followed by a little solo shopping (ended up getting valentine's day stuff for the kids) and lunch with a great book. Then off to the hairdresser for 2 hours of pampering. New color and highlights. Then off to my new gym. Joined a while back but it officially opened now. Got the grand tour. And a first workout. And made an appointment with a trainer for my inital evaluation next week. Got the ball rolling, finally!

Friday:
A continuing education course. With hubby. Have to keep my hours up in order to maintain my provincial license. It turned out to be totally unexpectedly awesome. An invigorating, stimulating and motivating day taking about health and fitness. I acquired so many pearls of wisdom. A lot I knew already: eat healthy, drink water, exercise regularly,etc. But the speakers didn't address so much what we need to do to lead a healthier lifestyle, the intellectual side of us already knows all that stuff. It was more a search of our deep inner selves to find out what would motivate us to do those things. Find out our powerful reasons. Make a dream list of our future and visualize it. Very powerful stuff.

They spoke of the things people need to achieve these results: a log of what we eat and the exercises we do, drinking lots of water, eliminating junk food from our houses, having people around us who will support us, having people whose achievements are inspirational to us, getting a personal trainer or even better taking a personal training course, cutting down caffeine consumption, not eating 2 hours before bedtime, sleeping enough every night, taking time daily for ourselves (meditation, quiet reading), getting regular massages, yoga, and even journalling ! As in blogging! Apparently spending the time to write down our thoughts is part of the road to a better, happier and healthier lifestyle.

Cool!

So here's my top two powerful reasons to bring my health and wellness to the next level:

#1---be a role model to my children
#2--becoming an active older adult enjoying life and children

Let's just keep the momentum going!