I try to do everything I can to be involved in my job/school (I'm a teacher), my writing community, and especially my children's lives. Not like Helicopter Mom mode, I'm SO not one of those. But I want my children to know I care about them and am there to support them in everything they do. If they want me to chaperone events, I do. If they want me to take an active role as a team mom, I do. If they want me to back off, I do.
When Princess started high school four years ago she asked me to stop chaperoning dances. So I did. When Sports Girl started high school last year she wanted me to be around, so I was. I am. Little Guy doesn't care one way or the other but I pretend he really, really, wants me around. And wants to still snuggle, even though he says he doesn't.
That's when my fitness journey started. I've always been active and I cook a lot of healthy meals, but this aging thing is catching up with me. In March, I started focusing more on my physical health. I started my Balanced Babes workout group (come join us!). However, with that, ironically, came a cost. In order to squeeze in daily workouts, I lost valuable writing time. But if I write, I'm stationary and not getting my workout done. I have such little time to myself--like thirty minutes between work and my son's games, if I'm lucky. Sometimes it's straight from work to the field if the game is far away. And Sports Girl's games are at night so we're missing family mealtime and getting home late.
When there aren't games scheduled (which seems to be only one day a week), I'm using that time to workout and not write, hence my lack of blogs since the end of February. This weekend I attended the Maine Romance Writers Retreat. It's always so much fun to get together with fellow authors, but during the writing workshops I realized how much I missed writing. I don't feel complete without working it all in.
It's a challenge I'm ready for. It'll also mean I need to say no to some of the other responsibilities I've tacked on over the years. I don't say 'Yes' because I feel guilty about saying 'No', I say 'Yes' because I truly enjoy doing all the extras. But now it's time to lessen those "extras" and say 'Yes' to more ME stuff.