Taking time for me.

Ok so here it goes....I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time. But now that both of the kids are in school I have a little time to do it. I've decide that I'm going to do a lot of things that I have been wanting to do. You see life is short, these last few years have shown me just how short it can be. And I am choosing to get up and live it!! Whether that means starting a blog, continuing to further my physical and mental wellness or taking a photography class. I am going to take charge of my life!! I love my family!! They are my life but it's time to start carving out some time for me. I think that is something a lot of mothers struggle with. I know I do. I feel selfish, I feel like I could be doing something with or for the kids or my husband or something around the house. But here is the thing there is ALWAYS going to be something that needs to be done ALWAYS. Here's a little secret....it will still get done. It will. And when it does you will feel a little better about doing it if you have had sometime for yourself. There will be less frustration when you are sweeping the floor for the tenth time today. I promise. Decide on something that you enjoy even if it is just reading a book. Carve out some time each day or a few times a week. Set an alarm in your phone if you have to, but do it. Then when you get into the habit of taking sometime for you, start to think about doing something you have always thought about doing and begin taking the steps to do it. Use the time that you have already planned out for yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone a little bit at a time. Your kids are small now or maybe they are in a ton of sports, or maybe you work full time and spend as much time with your kids as you can or maybe you don't have kids yet but work full time or have other commitments. Whatever it is, this part of you life wont last forever. You wont be the same person tomorrow that you are today. Is it fair to deprive yourself of your passions at any point in your life? Go to work, take care of your family but don't forget to get to know you along the way. You are still a person regardless of your job at work or at home. Don't forget to nourish your soul, stay in touch with you. It will go along way for your mind and your spirit. I have suffered through depression, loss, grief and hard times and in all of that mess I forgot about me. I mean literally forgot about who I was, what I wanted, what interested me. I forgot how to be happy and enjoy myself. I never even stopped to think about what I wanted. I started with meditation. It sounded easy enough, you don't need to spend money you don't have to go anywhere, just meditate. There are free guided meditations, you can even search youtube.com, there are free apps (I like Self-Hypnosis for Meditation). Meditation helped me to look inside of myself. It also helped me to listen to silence to enjoy silence, to breath and to relax. There is nothing like it in this world!! You don't have to be a pro. I started with some relaxing sounds (this app is great! Relax Melodies: sleep and yoga). Just listen to the sounds focus on the your breath don't think. This was the beginning of my journey inward.