Making time…
Making time. We all struggle with it. There’s that four letter word called “work”. There’s that other thing we can’t seem to get enough of – sleep. Heck, for most people, that accounts for well over 2/3 of our day. There’s only about 4-5 hours left for dinner, a workout or exercise, and most importantly, family. Where does the “me” time fit in?
I’m trying to adopt a new outlook on this. See, my wife takes care of the stuff at home – laundry, dishes, cooking, grocery shopping, you name it. The kids are more concerned about playing outside or playing video games. I’ve always wanted to just sit back and relax, especially after a long day at work. What I’m finding, though, is the more effort I put in at home – cleaning up after dinner since my wife cooked it, spending a little more time with the kids – the more I get in return.
While it’s a little more difficult to find some quality time to spend with my wife, I know the children are on a pretty high pedestal with her. Not that they aren’t with me, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that Mama Bear instinct. With my daughters, it’s just spending time with them. They’re pretty easy to please. Sometimes, it’s a board game. Others, it’s just going outside and running around with them.
I went and did a little Christmas shopping Saturday with one of them, and she really just enjoyed that time with her dad, one on one. Today, I get to spend time with my other daughter. She’s coming into the office to finish out the day, then we’re going to a local restaurant that is sponsoring a “Daddy-Daughter Date Night”. It’s really nothing spectacular, but then again, neither was shopping on Saturday. I know what will mean the most to them is just the fact that Daddy spent time with them.
My son is another story. He’s either on the computer, playing a video game, or up in his room with the door closed. The quality time I generally get with him is over video games. He’s never been much into sports, but he’ll go to a sporting event with me occasionally – I think that’s just because he knows I like them so much. It’s kind of nice to get the time with him on a game, because he usually knows more about them than I do and he can usually help me out with becoming more efficient at the game.
My whole point here, though, is that a little over a year ago, I wouldn’t have even had the energy to even think about doing half this stuff, let alone actually getting up and doing it. I weighed over 335 lbs. I’d get winded just walking into a grocery store, let alone up the stairs in the house.
Here I am, almost a year and a half later, 50 lbs. lighter, still on my journey, but healthier than I was 10 years ago and weighed even 50 lbs. less than I do now. I actually run an adult kickball league in my town, I play on the church softball team, and I’m able to go outside and run around with the kids on occasion.
I’m able to accomplish this by taking less than an hour out of my day for me. By doing so, I’m able to give so much more than that to my family. I have Beachbody to thank for this! I’ve done workouts from programs like P90X, Insanity, Asylum, RevAbs, Body Gospel, P90X+, and I’ve also started running! A few of those programs I actually own, a few I have borrowed, or taken advantage of trying them out at a local fit club for free because another coach provided the workout. Regardless, they’re all great programs, and there are so many others available from Beachbody that are designed to help people achieve those same goals.
The structure is already there for you. There are even tools in place to help you stay committed and to help motivate and support you on your own journey. There are daily drawings for logging your workout in the WOWY Supergym, a free goal tracker, and even free coaching! There are also weekly giveaways with the Beachbody Challenge! Who doesn’t like free stuff?
Bottom line – make the time for yourself and for your family. The rewards FAR exceed the drawbacks! You’ll feel better about yourself and you’ll get a much larger reward from your family, which will only make you feel better in the process!
