Bikini-body Parenting

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about parenting lately. Well, anyone who is a parent hopefully thinks about it from time to time, but lately it’s been on my mind night and day.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we’ve been having quite a time with Amelia. (Knock on wood, things actually have improved a lot since Christmas, so I’m incredibly grateful for that!) But December about did me in. I probably cried at least once a day over that child.

December also was the start of a new exercise/eating plan for me. I won’t go into all the details here (maybe soon), but the short version is that I’ve been getting up early six days a week to work out, I’ve cut out most sugar and processed foods, and I’m eating far less carbohydrates than I used to. But the exercise has been the hardest part – or more to the point, the “getting up early to exercise” part has been my biggest challenge.

With both of these things on my mind, I was thinking today how parenting (parenting well, anyway) is actually a lot like exercise. I don't always love doing it, but I love what it does for me. I don't always wake up excited about it, but when it's over, I'm soooo glad I did it. The sweat, the tears, the anguish, at the end of my workout, it pales in comparison to how I feel for having done it. And that's the goal for us as parents, I think. To go to bed every night knowing we did our best, and grateful we did it at all, even though it hurt like hell at times. Some days we gave it 100 percent. Some days we mostly nailed it. And then there are the occasional days where we realize we mailed it in (TV, anyone?). But we still got up and did it. And over time, we see the results of those 100 percent days, and even the mail-it-in days didn't kill anyone.

But no matter what, it was worth it. No one gets to a bikini body and wishes they had exercised less. And no one gets to the end of their lives and wishes they had spent less time doing life with their kids. So we press on. And we encourage each other, knowing that while Chalene Johnson is my workout of choice and yours is running, we're all still exercising. And while being a SAHM who breastfeeds for two years and does organic everything and co-sleeps is your parenting style, someone else's might be working mom, scheduled baby, etc., and the rest of us are probably somewhere in between. But we're all doing it. And hopefully our bodies are transforming while exercising, just like our souls, our children's souls, and even the world around us is transforming while we parent. I used to think that marriage was soul-refining (and it is), but nothing compares to the chiseling of your character that is brought about by parenting. So give yourself a break sometimes, a motivational speech sometimes, a kick in the butt sometimes, but above all, always give yourself a pat on the back because you showed up.

P.S. There are a couple of blogs I’ve linked to on Facebook lately that really have encouraged me. If you didn’t see them, here they are:

Joy Phenix's blog post: The Life Balance Myth

And one that got shared and shared and shared all over Facebook because all of us can relate! Don't Carpe Diem