Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I Promise I Do Love My Children and Goals

This screaming, tantrum-throwing, stubborn, whiny 2 year old is driving me crazy. The whiny, disobedient 5 year old isn't helping, either. Nor is the up-every-two-hours-during-the-night infant. I won't even mention the picky-eating, chore-refusing, homework-forgetting 7 year old and 9 year old. The 10 year old gets a pass. She might be moody and hormonal (puberty starting already!?), but at least she's helpful and obedient right now. I'll take the eye-rolling and muttering under her breath over the screaming/whining any day.

In happier news, my cell phone is working again. Customer service sort of prevailed.

We are blessing the baby this Sunday.

The sun is shining again!

I am surviving. Honestly, I'd rather be thriving, but I'm sacrificing right now. I acknowledge the passage of experience I need. And yesterday I did, honestly, laugh a lot. Happiness is here.

--------------

Goals. For moi:

1. Begin exercising again
2. Drink a green smoothie everyday
3. Create a Meal Plan for the family
4. Spend less time online
5. Get outside every day
6. Get the house finished
7. Read scriptures/pray every day (personal, not family)
8. Run another 5K
9. Read more to my boys
10. Speak Softly

How I'm going to do these goals:
1. Walking three times a week for an hour and then doing the BodyFate app on my phone at least twice a week (for 45 minutes).

2. Just do it!
3. One or two weeks' worth. I'm not going to start out too big --I have a hard time planning ahead for things like this, so I'll start small.
4. I need to establish hours in which I can be online --maybe 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the early afternoon, and 20 minutes in the evening. That may sound like a lot, but for me? That would be next to nothing compared to how much I'm online now! But it will help me with my other goals, like this next one...
5. Either by cleaning up the yard, doing my walking, running errands, or just taking the kids somewhere fun (the park, eh?).
6. I'm not going to push myself too hard to get it done in a certain timeline --I just need to chip away a little bit each day. The entire office needs to be reorganized and put away, the boys' room needs to be finished, and then there's the laundry room, the shed, the carport closet, the game cupboard, the hallway drawers, etc.
7. This one will take more effort --not the praying, but the scripture studying. I stopped doing the Book of Mormon in 100 Days last month --I think I'll start it again. When to study, though? That is the question. The lack of sleep is making it hard...I'll have to chew on it some more.
8. This one will be easy if I turn walking into running eventually.
9. If I make a goal of reading at least one book each day, hopefully it will turn into more! I just need to turn off the TV more often. Maybe do a specific time limit on that, too.
10. I need to re-read "The Soft-Spoken Parent." And get more sleep. Exercise and good nutrition will help, too.

Please note that I did not add in goals like "lose 30 pounds!" or "become perfect at laundry" or "shower every day" because that's just not realistic, dear reader! I've realized, through my vast experience (ahem), that making huge goals doesn't help --small ones, do. The goals I put up there are very fluid, too. I won't feel like a failure if I do BodyFate at 4PM instead of 6AM. I won't be mad at myself if I read two verses in the scriptures as I drift off to sleep rather than reading two chapters. I really think that in the past my goals have been unattainable because I was incredibly unrealistic. And so I wouldn't fail just a little bit --I would COMPLETELY fail. And give up. And it would feed my Depression and I would gain more weight as I emotionally ate my...well, emotions. Because let's be honest, if I REALLY wanted to accomplish amazing things, my goals would look like this:
*Run a 10K in July.
*Lose 40 pounds by August
*Never eat sugar again and be Vegan all the time
*Plant three gardens
*Write the next great American novel within a year
*Find the perfect chore chart system

It's good to have goals. But I won't get to my three gardens until I clean up the backyard first, you know? Line upon line, dear reader. Precept upon precept. As I accomplish my smaller goals, then I will make bigger ones. That makes sense, right?

6 comments:

Angie said...

Totally makes sense! And hey, wonder how it would be to listen to scriptures while you're walking? Not very upbeat, but 2 in 1!

Mary said...

I too, seem to struggle with the scripture reading. So I bought the B of M on cd and listen to it while driving my girl to dance.( a 20 min. drive). Surprisingly, I almost feel like I'm getting more out of it this time around! Instead of becoming mundane and boring, it actually sounds like a story. Which it is. But for some reason, reading it to myself just got old and hard to follow. So yeah, I'm really enjoying the 'story' of the B of M much more this time!

Mary said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Amanda D said...

I love your goals. Your goals are my goals (pretty much). I am considering starting another 100 mile challenge in April if you are interested. Scratch that, I AM going to do another challenge. I need it!

I also need to be better about my personal study/prayer. If you find any good tips, let me know. I like the idea of listening to them so I'll have to consider that. Want to check in with each other?

Good luck!

Mormon Women: Who We Are said...

Love the ideas of folding scripture study into exercise time or something like that. I also had someone share what she did when she had little kids...she kept a BoM open on her counter and would read a verse as she passed by it...and then think about it while she was doing her work.

Also, have you listened to this? Sister Beck talks about balancing family responsibilities with the need for some downtime and/or connection, such as online.

http://mormonchannel.org/relief-society/questions-and-answers/15

chercard said...

I love to study the scriptures by subject. I choose a subject I am struggling with, (right now it's patience) and study it for several days. It usually leads to me reading and studying other subjects. I like it much more than reading the scriptures straight through. That is beneficial too and I read the BoM once a year but other than that I study by subject.