Resolutions

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It’s almost New Year’s Day (previously known as Hangover Day), which means it’s time to think up some New Year’s Resolutions so we’ll all have something to quickly forget about work on in 2011.

Mine are:

Get Caught Up.

In 2010, I made some major strides toward getting and staying organized. Keeping organized keeps me (relatively) sane.  Unfortunately, I still haven’t mastered Project Completion. I’m getting better at it, but it’s definitely something I want to put on the mental front burner this year. Completing projects in a timely manner means that I can be more productive by taking on more projects, and it also means that I don’t have long term stress from unfinished business.

Take Better Care of Myself.

I think this one tends to show up on a lot of NYR lists, along with things like “exercise more” and “lose weight finally“. Fortunately, I’ve been actively working on taking better care of myself and getting fit for the last 4 or 5 years and I definitely have something to show for it. In the last few years, I have completely turned my lifestyle around in regards to what I eat (no crash diets here – just long-term nutritional changes) and keeping active (regular exercise, and trying to keep my butt off the couch and out of my desk chair).

When I had my personal wake-up call I was on several different medications, had difficulty just walking for exercise, and had a BMI of 34. That’s obese. I was not an obese child – this is something I did to myself as an adult.  Anyway, by July of 2010 I was down to a BMI of 27, which is still overweight, but not obese. I was able to get off some of my medications, my asthma was no longer running my life, and I was more fit than I’ve been in… well, maybe ever. Even when I was young and fairly thin, I wasn’t really fit. I am extremely proud of myself. I got stronger, I got healthier, and I got more confident. I’m almost 6 months pregnant at the moment, and it’s been a very hard pregnancy this time. I’ve gained about 17 pounds so far (25 weeks along) and would guess I’ll wind up in the 30-35 pound total weight gain range. It’s more than I would like (since I started out heavy), but it’s still reasonable for my body.

So when I say that I want to take better care of myself in 2011, I don’t just mean things like eating right and losing the baby weight during the second half of the year. Those are important, but those are more like maintenance goals to me.

What I really need to do is put myself first more often, and carve out Me Time when I need it. I’m very busy, and sometimes my stress level is extremely high. I run our household, which means being responsible for all budgeting and just generally keeping the house together. Also, taking care of our little one (soon to be two little ones!) while the Hubbles is at work. This is my job. Additionally, I work on art part time, which primarily means during Pixie’s naptimes, after she goes to bed, and while she is playing with Daddy on the weekends. I also need to mention that my husband is very helpful around the house. I’m certainly not the only one cleaning, cooking, baby-caring, pet-caring, and generally keeping things together. It is, however, my primary job around here, and that entails a lot of time, physical and mental activity, and often: stress.

Add being pregnant into that, especially with a difficult pregnancy, and you just might wind up with a Momma who is over-stretched, over-stressed, and not taking care to get enough sleep, enough healthy food, enough exercise, enough adult time, enough relaxation, and frankly: enough showers. It should really be obvious that this is a recipe for straight-up disaster. Momma, meet Downward Spiral.

So let’s apply the breaks, guys! Momma, earlier this month, finally accepted that putting herself last and not asking for a break and for the time she needs isn’t helping anyone. How well do you do your job when you’re a mess? Probably not very well. So this Momma resolves to spend a little more Me Time and a little more effort on herself in 2011, at the very least so she can keep on being a productive and happy Momma-slash-Household-Administrator.