Caring for myself

[LisaS]

What a selfish looking title, but it describes how I feel right now. The one principle I have been struggling with, for 15 years now, is balancing my life. Most activities I particpate in are geared towards my children and give me a great deal of satisfaction. Recently, I began to notice that I have not been caring for myself (or my husband). With regards to my husband, I always make time for the children (after all who will care for them if we don't?) and never seem to make time for him. I finally reached a point where this needed to be a priority and we started date night. Tonight was our first date night and we had a wonderful dinner where we could talk to each other. Our oldest watched the two younger girls and we were gone for a little over an hour. Just enough time for all of us. We had tried date night in the past and never seemed to make it work (the children stayed up late, one (or both of us) fell asleep, etc).

I also noticed a decline in my health over the past few years. My blood pressure was up (due to my weight I'm sure) and my stress level was increasing. A new gym opened up about a year ago and everyone raved about their "Kid Zone". I decided to join the gym and give the Kid Zone a try about two weeks ago. Both of the younger girls LOVE going. DD2 even opted to go to the gym with me rather than staying home with DH! DD3 wants to continue playing even when my workout is complete! It is working for us (at least for the time being). I am feeling better about myself and do not feel as stressed even though nothing else has changed. I am so glad to have found a place that works for us.