Energizing Yourself

Good Morning ! Are yall ready for Spring ?? It still feels like winter here LOL. The other day it was 85 degrees, today its in the 60's.. go figure .. I hope Regis and Kelly are enjoying this New Orleans, kinda weather !

This is an excellent article about re energizing yourself. Its been 6 months today, since I started low carbing, and loosing weight. Hats off to a success story :)

http://www.momcentral.com/health/energizing-yourself.html

Rethink how you care for youself !

Use spring cleaning as an excuse to rethink the way you care for yourself.

Sometimes when we have children we forget about ourselves. We are so busy doing the best we can for our kids, that we lose what is best for ourselves. When it comes to self-esteem and confidence in both your parenting skills and yourself, it is important to take time for yourself. This spring, as we organize and clean up our homes, we should take a good look at how we make time and care for ourselves. Here are some great tips to energize yourself.

~ Build into your week activities that boost your self-esteem and that make you feel strong and confident. These could be things that you do well and about which you feel passionate, or things that you did well in your youth that you still enjoy, such as swimming or doing crossword puzzles.

~ Exercise, even when you don't feel much like doing so. Staying fit and conditioned gives you the foundation to counter the daily stresses inherent in school, your job and daily life. It also will help lift your spirits and boost your self-image. If the type of exercise you've been doing isn't for fun for you and another chore we add to the week's schedule, try something different such as tennis or a spin class. Drag out your bike and try a new route. Walk the dog a friend in the evening or early morning. Aim for an half hour of physical activity a day- even walking counts!

~ Comfort food doesn't always have to be the decadent pint of gourmet
ice cream, macaroni and cheese, a gooey grilled cheese sandwich, or fresh
baked cookies. Instead it can be soups that simmer on your stove (add
bouillon cubes for more instant rich flavor), roast turkey or chicken
(throw in some lemons or oranges into the roasting pan), or bread baking
in the oven (you can even buy uncooked dough in your grocery store's
freezer section).

~ Are you caffeine dependent? I know I was -- so much so that I was
convinced that I should invent a caffeine patch to wear on my arm and
simply tap to get activated in the morning. The problem is
that caffeine affects your sleep, leaves you jittery, and plummets your
energy when it wears off. So ease yourself off it, giving yourself more
time to sleep and substituting natural energerizers, such as fruit, in its
place as a quick pick-me up.



Avoid Negativity

~ Surround yourself with energized friends. Find people with whom you
feel refreshed and inspired, and who make you laugh -- and make these the
energizers you seek out. Energy is contagious, both positive and
negative. Make sure that those around you on a regular basis are
energetic and positive. Identify those people who primarily act as
energy-vampires or are toxic for you to be around, and distance them from your everyday life. The same goes for toxic colleagues and friends: use
polite evasion to keep them at arm's-length.

~ Let go of perfectionism. Give up the ideal of having a spotless apartment
or totally organized life. This is a never-ending series of battles you will
keep losing.

~ Give up hoping to have a body that leaps straight off the pages of a
fashion magazine. Unless you've inherited amazing genes or do yourself
the disservice of eating too little, you will likely find yourself
consumed by a very demanding part-time job of losing weight. Your scale,
bathroom mirror, and smallest jeans should not become the arbiters of
your happiness.

~ Toss out clothing that doesn't fit or that you haven't worn in the
past two years. Give it to Goodwill or a local charity. Keep only clothes
in which you feel great.


Spice It Up!

~ Indulge your sense of smell. Experiment with different scents of
perfumes, as they can help switch your mood and give you a pick-me up at
much needed times. Treat yourself to some in the afternoon of a long day.
Put plants around your house or office, get some indoor seasonal fragrant
flowering bulbs such as narcissus, tulips, and hyacinths, and grow sweet
smelling fresh herbs in your garden such as rosemary, oregano, sage, or
lemon balm.

~ Expand your mind. Treat yourself to a class at a local community
college or center: an hour of pottery or oil painting or dancing. Get an
adult education catalog and see what catches your eye. You sign your kids
up for lessons on everything under the sun, why not try something new for
yourself? Try a cooking class, start a garden in the backyard, go for an
afternoon of golf with that friend who keeps offering to teach you, or
try a yoga, tai chi or even karate lessons.

~ Plan a surprise weekend getaway so that you can come back as good as
new! Make time for your partner, as your relationship needs connecting
time to be nourished. Make regular dates, swapping with friends if need
be to get the babysitting coverage. Spend time alone with each other even
on family vacations. Raise this back up to the top of your list of
priorities.


Relax

~ Think slow every once in a while and take your time in life. Treat
yourself to some moments of luxurious, leisurely time. When you are
overwhelmed, stop and just breathe. Give yourself pockets of time-out
from the fast paced world in which we live. Make time for yourself: and
running errands doesn't count! Take time out particularly when you feel
rushed, behind, or in crisis mode.

~ Are you sleep-deprived? It's so tempting to steal hours from either
end of our days to get that final load of laundry folded or to curl up
with a novel, that you wind up getting less than the optimal seven or
eight hours of sleep your body needs.

~ Ease yourself off of "quick fix" foods. Snacks high in sugar,
caffeine, or alcohol actually bring your mood and energy level down
further once they wear off. Reach instead for a glass of ice water with a
couple raspberries thrown in, a cup of green tea, or crisp vegetables
that appeal to you.

~ Take a shower or bath, every day. It sounds simple, but this is often
the first luxury to go as a Mom! Plus, once a week, indulge in a bath
during which no shaving or shampooing is allowed. Light a couple candles,
drop in scented bath oil, and luxuriate. Be really decadent and throw in
a few rose or gardenia petals. Nothing like a really warm bubble bath
with scented soap or gel to soothe your body after a long day running
around and meeting everyone else's needs. Dim the lights, grab something
fabulous to read or put on some of your favorite music, and spend twenty
minutes soaking out the day's stress.

~ Pick up soothing music to listen to in the car during your
commutes, or check out some books on tape from your library to have some
escapist time listening on the go. Transform this otherwise lost time
into something soothing.


Indulge Yourself

~ Do something that makes you feel exuberant. Seek out adventure: it
can be simple as an afternoon wandering and exploring a nearby museum or
small town. It doesn't have to be a week of Tibet hiking. Approach your
own town as a tourist might. What haven't you done or gone to see? Go to
it.

~ Make your bed a comfort zone. Choose some soft or silky sheets, a
fluffy down comforter, lots of plumped up pillows for nighttime reading,
an afghan to curl up in, soft lighting (switch to a 25 watt bulb), and
music in your bedroom (even if just a portable radio or CD player). For a
treat, scent your sheets by adding a couple drops of scented oil on a
washcloth thrown in with them in the dryer.

~ Rethink your interior space at home or at work, and take a second
look at how you've arranged things. Paint a new color on your walls or ceiling. Get room-darkening shades if the light wakes you up. Create hidden storage spaces such as under your bed for things cluttering your life. Buy woven baskets to store papers.

Contrary to popular belief, Moms today don't stop working just so they have time to clean out the fridge shelves or swap a never-ending loads of laundry. Rather, Moms want to be at home so they have the opportunity to really be hands-on parents to their children.

Their identities as stay-at-home Moms are tied to raising good (this often becomes interpreted by Moms as exceptional) children, and not tied to the neatness of their homes--in direct contrast to the June Cleaver era of stay-at-home moms. (The American housewife grew out of the leisure of post-WWI America, with women no longer having to work while the men were at war and dedicating themselves instead to maintaining the perfect home, being "happy homemakers" and raising the kids.) Just as the time period has changed, so must Moms take the time for their personal wants and needs in order to be happy, productive and nurturing mothers.