How I make my health a priority with 3 young kids and a business …. and what happens if I don’t!
“I don’t know how you do it”
I hear this all the time. And let’s get one thing straight from the start. I am not perfect. I do not have the only solution. I just know what works for me and my family, in terms of staying as sane and healthy as we can!
And if you cant be bothered reading this whole thing, here are the take home messages.
Drink water
Sleep
Eat as well as you can
Move your body
Make sure that happens schedule and organise everything!
Take time to disconnect from society and technology and get back to nature.
That is it! If you want the long version, keep reading!
Let me start with me saying that I don’t even know how I do it some days.Some days I’ve got it all together work goes well everything runs smoothly. I’ve got home-made dinner ready to go, there was no yelling or screaming in the morning getting ready for school and work and it’s just one of those days where it all goes to plan and I might even get a workout in as well.
Then there’s the days where it doesn’t go to plan everyone’s in a bad mood, maybe we didn’t sleep very well and nothing goes away that it’s meant to even before 6am! I am probably not organised with meals on this day, because I am too busy just trying to get through the day and count down to wine time, so we end up eating crap and feeling more average, and probably not sleeping all that well. I probably don’t get any exercise because it’s just one of those days and then I probably drink a glass to much wine as well! Days like this, at a minimum I try to drink my water, and move my body, even if it is pacing up and down the hallway. Taking a minute or two to breathe, outside, is also fabulous, while saying some affirmations, but this doesn’t always happen. I do feel so much better if I do it though!
Most of the time the days somewhere in the middle. Most the time there might be a little bit of a grump in the morning getting ready for school and work, a bit of rushing and a bit of “come on we gotta go” but generally we’ve all had a decent breakfast, I’ve already drank water before I walk out the door, (that’s essential) and I have taken my vitamins and most/some mornings remember to give them to the kids as well. That’s one of my non negotiables. My vitamins, because I know I feel so much better when I take them vs when I don’t, and I also know they keep my whole body healthier, and drinking lots of water. Just do it, your body will thank you.
Then it really depends on how the day rolls, is it a work day, is it a home day, is a day to get what seems like 50 loads of washing done, is it a day to hopefully get some paperwork done, and I’ll write a blog post while someone sleeps and the big kids are at school? Or is it a work day were just have to hope that I woke up and there’s no disasters and that the internet is working and my staff don’t get called for jury duty. Because its all those things that increase stress levels, which aren’t healthy at all. So I do what I can to manage them – including breathing, journalling,mediation, grounding…..or just getting really pissed off , feeling the emotion and then dealing with it!
I normally always have a coffee on the way to work as well. Just a bit of a ritual that I really enjoy and having the time to drink it was hot on the way to work. I did give it up for awhile didn’t notice a hell of a difference so I stuck with it. So all those coffee drinks out there or the mum that are drinking coffee to deal with the day, that is a okay by me. I do try and get a healthy lunch in but I also do listen to my body at lunchtime. It can be a bit up and down. I work out “what to do I feel like?. Am I really starving, do I want a big meal? Have I had a late breakfast so that I might have a small lunch or late lunch? Sometimes I really really want carbs and then I just listen to my body in and go with that. I don’t have a set lunch, I don’t have a set lunch time sometimes I have two snacks and as a post to a proper meal I just honestly like to listen to my body and it also depends on how my day is rolling. I may get caught up at work or with the kids and it’s 2 o’clock and I haven’t eaten and I need lunch , fast! That’s the reality sometimes a fast because I get busy in the morning forget to eat breakfast and that’s okay I’ve actually worked out that works for me. Having the food there and prepped and having healthy options in the fridge is definitely key though, it has to be easy to grab and eat!
That’s really the key to all of this is knowing what works for you and the most important part in knowing what works for me is having a schedule. Knowing what days I can exercise, knowing what day is my husband exercising, knowing when the kids have got sport, knowing that the kids are going to run into the room and need to have a bit of tickle and that work needs to wait for a bit and I need to be in Mum mode. Which is a balance that I often don’t get right I definitely something I’m working on lately is working on putting my phone down and being more present because as a business owner it’s so easy to always get checking emails or checking appointments or checking things. And it’s something that I am consciously working on this month, being off my phone, getting off the computer and just being present. I’m trying really separating those two rolls because it can be dam hard to try and do both at once, which again adds stress, which I TRY to keep low with the things I mentioned before….and running…such a good stress release!
But back to organisation and scheduling. It is key to me functioning. It is set routines of when I’m at work when I’ve got stuff to do ,when I’ve got paperwork time to get my paperwork done when the kids aren’t around, I know that days I’ve got school drop off and school pick ups, there’s after school care involved ,there’s daycare involved, there’s parents that help out, there is also that amazing husband of mine who is fabulous and helps so much with all the organisation and making sure it all happens to plan, there is set days where I exercise in the morning ( which some days means a 415am alarm to get it done), there are days where I might do it in the evening, there is family time, there’s so much more but it is all scheduled in. Now, this doesn’t mean that every second of every day of every week of every month is scheduled, absolutely not. There is flexibility. There is time for spontaneity. And I know that I function better and can be a little bit more spontaneous and have a little bit more fun when I know things are scheduled that I know they gonna get done I am that sort of person that loves to have it to do this for me to do this for me to do this and check it off. That keeps my stress levels low!
One of the key things to keeping healthy is always having amazing support staff and support people around me. As I said we have daycare, after school care, parents are involved. I have a cleaner and I have amazing staff at the clinic that support me I have staff online that support me. I could not do what I do with all of them. And I love that! That’s I think another key point of being able to do all of this and not go crazy and push myself to to burnout is knowing that I can’t do it all and knowing that it’s okay to get help and if I want to be able to run a business of been amazing chiropractor and personal trainer and mum and wife and all of those things that I can’t clean my house as well and you know what? I’m not amazing Cleaner so I’m more than happy to get someone else to do that for me!
So basically that has given you an insight into my day to day, and what’s important for my health and sanity!
I drink a lot of water I take my supplements. I get a good night sleep when it’s possible (around the kids – which speaking on them, they are laughing at me as I write this because I’m dictating it and they think its hilarious! ) That’s another key thing, is I know how to be time efficient! Dictating is faster than typing for me so I do that!
I listen to my body with what I need to eat and when I need to eat it. I don’t keep lollies and chocolate and ice cream in the house because I am like anyone else I have no willpower if it is there. I make sure I meal plan and make sure I grocery shopbecause if I don’t that’s when it all goes poo poo on those days were not so fabulous. Because we all know that you have a day that is not so fabulous it doesn’t go to plan if you’ve got your meal planning and meal prepping done, you know you’ve got all that food in your house you’re more likely to cook that healthy meal which is going to help a hell of a lot to helping you feel better and get back on track. I make sure I have scheduled exercise sessions and I make sure I get them done it’s not negotiable. Even if I get up and don’t want to do it I just start and once I get up and get moving chance are I am going to do a really good session. It comes down to commitment and consistency with exercise. As long as you just keep doing it you going to get used to it and you will see those improvements. I also use my exercise as a massive stress release for me and as a way to get some some me time! I mean, that is why I run ultra marathons isn’t it? To get time alone?
So that’s basically a lot of the little things that I do to be as healthy as I can and as you can see, they are not all that hard. It really is the basics. I’m not extreme in anything that I do. I’m just a normal human being running a business, looking after the kids, trying to find some time for my husband and trying to get it all done. I know that I feel better in my head I know that I’m a better mum I know that I’m more calm and chilled when I drink water and sleep well and take my vitamins and eat well and exercise and just have those basic organisational things like the schedule happening. The other massive massive thing that I know helps me and my health is just getting back to nature, getting away from the city, getting my feet in the grass or sand. Getting down to the beach or finding a waterfall. Whatever it is, just getting away camping with family is the best but having that headspace and that time to disconnect from the world and reconnect is probably the biggest biggest biggest thing that I’m working on at the moment for my health. Because I know that it makes such a difference. Like I say to my patients, we often don’t realise how flat, not energized or stressed we are until we take that step back. So that’s what I encourage all to do, regardless of how busy you are. Get back to nature, get your feet in the grass, walk down the river or walk on the beach.
Reconnect, get back to nature. Drink some water while you’re doing it and plan some meals in your head. Commit to your exercise sessions you going to get done this week and go from there. If you can add in a little bit of breathing a little bit of meditation and that’s amazing too.
And that folks, is some of what I do to stay healthy!
PS : For those of you wondering about the photo on top of this blog post, it was taken halfway through dictating this post when two of my kids decided I needed to stop for a tickle and for some funny faces xo
