some tuesday thoughts
On Sunday evening we rolled back into town after two weeks of vacation in Wisconsin with our families. The usual 18 hour drive from Florida to Wisconsin ended up taking closer to 22 hours both ways. We always drive through the night when we make that trip, but this time we had to pull over at rest stops a few times to get some sleep. It might have something to do with having a newborn in the house...
Anyway, we had the most amazing 2 weeks catching up and relaxing with family, and I can't wait to share more about that! I'll be writing a recap post and sharing my best road trip tips that I've picked up along the way. In the meantime, I just want to share what's been on my mind, since blogging has taken a backseat to family time in the past few weeks.
1. Part of the conundrum of running your own business (whether it's a blog, a home based business, an etsy shop, or anything in between), is that you get to work whenever and wherever you want, BUT you also can't ask for vacation time from a boss. If you don't put in the work every day, it's not getting done. Your business isn't growing. In fact, sometimes it even sets you back a few steps to take a day or a week off.
This makes vacation time difficult. Everyone needs a break, but in the back of your mind you're always thinking of everything you could or should be doing for your business. On the other hand, it felt so good to just turn off my brain for awhile and not worry about social media or an editorial schedule. In any case, I'm glad to be back in a routine! I really did miss writing during vacation, but came back with tons of ideas and inspiration.
2. I did plenty of reading while on vacation with my family. I deliberately chose easy beach reads from the library, since I knew I wanted to read to relax, and because I'm still fairly sleep deprived from baby sleep schedules. I read these two books by Emily Giffin, this mystery novel that was like Law & Order SVU in book form, and am halfway through this one, which I asked about on my Instagram stories, with good feedback!
I really love personal development books, Christian non-fiction, and classic literature, but lately my brain has just needed a break! Any fun fiction recommendations are more than welcome!
3. I'm really excited about jumping back into a healthy lifestyle routine. Vacation is kind of a crap-shoot when it comes to food. You want to enjoy the moment and partake in the delicious food being served, but it often leaves you feeling bloated and gross. We arrived home on a Sunday evening, which coincided perfectly with me starting two new programs on Monday morning.
First, I am starting the MuTu System, which is a program to help mamas heal their diastasis recti. I am reviewing it, so if you have any questions about the program, let me know so I can include them in my review post!
The other program I am doing is a 16 week challenge run by the company I order my nutritional superfood from. Basically it's free to enter for anyone ordering the products, and after you finish (no matter if you met your health goals or not), you get $200 worth of free product of your choice. In the past I have just completed the challenge for the free product (you can enter up to 4 challenges a year!), but this time I'm in it to win it! Grand prize winners take home $25,000, the runner up takes home $10,000, and all finalists get a trip to Costa Rica! Since I still have baby weight to lose, a core to tone up, and just the general need to rebuild muscle that comes with having a baby, I'm excited to see how much progress I make!
By the way, that's another blog post on the editorial schedule - an update on postpartum fitness! The last one I did was 2 weeks postpartum, so I'm definitely overdue!
4. We start school in 3 weeks. How did that happen? 3. Weeks.
5. Justin and I celebrated our 7th anniversary yesterday! And by celebrated I mean we drank half a margarita before falling asleep. Our anniversary tradition is drinks on a patio, so we'll be making plans to go out sans kids later this week.(Seriously...does anything make you enjoy life more than an adult beverage enjoyed in good weather with good company? I think not).
6. Teddy's 2nd birthday is coming up on Friday, and we have yet to buy him a present, much less plan an activity or celebration. #parentsoftheyear
7. As I plan my Spanish curriculum for the upcoming school year (I teach Spanish very part time), I'm getting excited about language learning once again. I think it's time to start speaking Spanish with my kids again! We have some great Spanish kids songs, children's books, and games to play, so that's a good place to start. Does anyone else practice a second language with their kids?
8. I've really been focusing on mindset lately. Life slows down after you have a baby, and it's hard not to compare yourself with others on social media. I'm limiting my time on Facebook, and increasing my reading and devotional time. I'm working really hard on not comparing and being content, but also eliminating excuses that are holding me back.
Something about pregnancy puts me in kind of a negative and helpless mindset, maybe because so many things about pregnancy and having a baby are outside of your control. I'm working to overcome that mindset by putting my trust in God, and being proactive about the things I can control. Looks like maybe I should be diving back into those personal development books, huh? I will say that gratitude, as cheesy as it is, and as much as it's talked about, truly helps.
That's all that's on my mind right now! Sometimes it feels good to just write in stream-of-consciousness style and clear my mind. I would love to hear any book recommendations, mindset tips, or random thoughts you have in the comments!