Can you really make time for exercise?

Can I really have a “Me time” after having children? Can I really make time for exercise as a mom? How do I  Incorporate exercise into my busy life as a mom? These are some of the questions I get asked every time. While I do not have answers to some of these questions, I would share ways I have successfully incorporated my “me time” into my weekly schedule without conflicts with my duties as a mother and wife. My “Me time” is my exercise time.

The first step is to have the “desire.” The oxford dictionary meaning of desire is “to have a strong feeling or wanting to have something.” There are lot of things we desire but at the end of the day, we only go with what we feel is the most important. As mothers, we spend so many time prioritizing everything in our lives but we mostly forget we exist. I understand that our schedule is busy with million of things throughout the day, but giving ourselves 30 minutes to an hour a day, 3 to 5 days a week is probably all we need for sanity. I cultivated the “Me time” habit several years ago and this has really helped me to function effectively as a mother and a wife. You should never feel guilty for creating time for yourself if you plan your schedule wisely.

During my “me time” I reflect, pray, talk to myself, listen to messages, music, or most times, it’s a time to LISTEN. Whichever way you chose to create or schedule your personal time alone, just have an open mind that at times you would have visitors, LOL. When I was home after I had my last baby, I created my schedule around his schedule and would workout whenever he sleeps, so he was always on the side whenever I exercise. There have also been times when my husband and all my children would come and show support during my workouts.

Here are some of the ways you can create this habit:

Have a goal:What’s the goal of this time you want to create for yourself? You need to be specific about what you want to be doing during this time so that it doesn’t become a waste of time at the end of the day. Communicate this goal with your family, so that they would keep you accountable and so that they would understand the necessity of it. What you do during this time is up to you to decide, but make sure it’s productive.

Define it: What do you want to call your “me time?” Do you want to name it exercise time, sanity time, reflection time, mommy time? Whatever you name it is what your family would call it. You wouldn’t have to explain yourself when you tell your family that you are going to______(insert the name). For instance, everyone in my family knows what I would be doing when I tell them that I would be in the garage. This is my workout time and they wouldn’t bother me unless it’s an emergency, which has never happened.

Set a time limit: How many minutes do you need a day? How many times per week? Set this time limit and try not to exceed this so that you don’t start abusing this “me time” privilege. I set an hour to an hour and half, 5 to 6 days a week for myself and I try not to exceed this time unless necessary which would be communicated to my family before hand. I started with 30 minutes a day and increased as time goes on when things became manageable in the family. Only you would be able to determine the amount of time you need for yourself.

Set your schedule: If your evening is busy, can you wake up early? If you are not a morning person, can you sleep late? This is where the will power comes into play. I started waking up at 4am to exercise and that has stuck with me. I prefer morning workouts to evenings. There has been times when I have gotten up at 3am because my evening would be so busy. You have to desire it to make time for it. With three children now, at times,  I would wake up at 4am and workout till about 5:15 or 5:30am on the days I work from home. On the days I drive to work, I resume work at 6am, so I normally would workout in the evenings. After picking the children up from school, I would feed them, go inside the garage and would be finished just in time for dinner.

Allow visitors: There may be times when you may need to invite your family to join you. Inviting them to see what you do may also encourage them to support you more. Or they may even invite themselves, which is mostly the case for me. You would be amazed the energy they would bring during your workouts.

Although these are just few tips and would be different for each individual depending on what you have going on in your home. I hope this could shift your focus from “I don’t have time” to “I can make time.” Let me know whenever you try any of these, I hope they work for you.

Until next time,

XOXO, Forlahkeh