I Didn’t Reach My New Year’s Resolution And I’m Okay With That

Can I just say that it is hard to exercise when you have kids??  Mommm! I want juice! Whatcha doin mom? I want to watch Bluey! And then they climb all over you and you’re exhausted before you even get started.

It’s hard.

One of my new year’s resolutions is to bike 30 miles a month.  For January, I biked after the boys went to bed and it actually was quite peaceful!  Sometimes I will watch a show on Netflix while I’m biking or just listen to one of my Spotify playlists.  One of the most ‘fun’ times I had was when I biked to my worship music. (If you have never worked out to worship music, go give it a try.)

I ended up biking a total of 17 miles in January. And I’m not beating myself over it.  Why? Because that’s way more than I biked last year! And because that’s 17 miles!  I definitely didn’t reach my goal, but I progressed towards it and started building that habit up.

Now we’re in February and I decided to start biking in the morning … while my kids were up … and Jacob was already at work.  Am I crazy? Maybe.  But here’s the thing: I had the opportunity to show my boys that I am placing value on moving my body. AND I wasn’t thinking about how I have to make sure I get on my bike for the rest of the day. 

Because I prioritized biking in the morning, the rest of my day was free to do whatever I wanted and to do it without feeling guilty for not exercising.

Maybe one of your new year’s resolutions was to work out more or eat healthier or read more books.  Maybe you’ve stuck to your plans or maybe you haven’t. 

I want to encourage you to pick up your goal or intention and start with something that you can do.  If you want to start eating healthier, maybe the first step you can manage is to add one veggie to three meals per week.  If you want to read more books, maybe you can set aside one evening a week to curl up on the couch and get lost in a novel.  For me, my manageable step was (and is) biking 30 miles a month.

It is SO important that you don’t compare your progress or what ‘little step’ you can manage to what others are doing.  You do what’s best for you.

You start to grow when your first manageable step becomes a habit.  And then you think about what the next right thing is to add.  If all you do is change 10% of your weekly routine a month, think of what your life could look like at the end of a year.  I think it would be pretty awesome.

With Littles …

I want to share how I was able to bike with my 3 year old and 1 year old.

The first thing I did was tell them what we were going to do. (I say we because I was for sure going to make them move their bodies with me!  I’m not suffering alone! Ha.) I told them something like this, “Boys, we’re going to move our bodies now!”

Next, I told them specific things they could do while I was biking.  I set out the yoga mat and their bike, scooter, and skateboard.  I cleared a path to open up our hallway.  I told them, “I am choosing to move my body on my bike.  How would you like to move your body? Would you like to stretch, run, or bike?”  Benaiah chose to ride a bike, so of course Hudson wanted that too and immediately started screaming.  (I told you it was hard!!) I gave Hudson some different options and he ended up choosing to ride the skateboard with his belly.  (Whatever works!)

After we all knew how we would move our bodies, I turned on my working out playlist and we got moving! I positioned my bike in a way that I was able to monitor their behavior and movement.  When they started biking/skateboarding I was quick to praise their efforts.  I kept it light hearted and fun.

I was able to bike for about 10 minutes and praised the kids again for moving their bodies.

Full disclosure – the next day did not go so well and I was literally only able to bike one mile because they needed more intervention.  BUT like I said earlier – this is manageable for me.

It’s okay that I didn’t get in a full ten minutes or more on my bike.  My manageable goal right now is building up this habit of movement and I accomplished that.

You’ve Got This!

Friends – how can you move your body today? Can you put on a song and dance a little crazy with your baby? Can you sit on the floor and stretch out your body? Maybe you’re ready to start running six miles instead of five every morning. Figure out what your manageable goal is. Don’t compare it to someone else’s. Let me know what you decided to do so I can help cheer you on!