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Ask Not What You Can Do For Your Mother

By Jane Westreich

Ask what this working mother can do for herself - exercise.

I still remember the first point in my life when I tasted "independence" for the first time. I was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and I still remember the feeling of no one knowing where I was or what I was doing. When at college I would get this feeling when I would exercise but also when I would walk on campus between classes or sit and study on State Street. I felt it - I felt true independence for the first time. It was a powerful feeling. Can you think back to a time in your life when you felt this. When you had little responsibilities, and were in total control of you?

Think back to that time, to that feeling. Powerful, isn't it?

Now, lets forward to today. Different, isn't it?

Responsibilities, taxing schedules, and demanding work and family lives are overwhelming at times. We are independent but rarely feel that rush that I described or you remember experiencing. Why?

The truth? I think that we find it hard to take time. This is especially true for working moms. Working moms have days that no one can understand, except for maybe other working moms.

I'm a working mom who happens to be a fitness professional. My day typically begins at 5 am when I begin my "internal" list making for the day. What I need to do, who needs to be picked up, do I need to make lunch, when are my meetings, does someone have a dentist appointment, when will I exercise - you know the drill. My alarm has yet to go off but I am waiting and "internal" listing with anticipation of WKLH waking me at 5:15 am.

Once the alarm sounds I am immediately up out of bed (I can't believe this because this is not usual behavior for me, until I made exercise a priority that is). It's time to seize the day and get it started.

I typically start my working mom day with cardio. The house, my husband, kids and hopefully dog are still asleep. It soon becomes my hour of power. An hour where no one is asking their mom, wife, boss, sister, friend of neighbor for anything. An hour where the only one I have to listen to is me. I listen to my thoughts, to my internal lists but mostly I just feel freedom as I exercise hard and sweat for me. I can change my day by how I start it. When I think about this "me time" it has little to do with physical and all to do with mental. This time keeps this working mom balanced.

If you are a working mom who asks, "how do you do it?", "how do you make it a priority?", "how do you find time?" or says "I'm too tired", "my family needs me", or "I can't take the time for me" - I respond to you as a fitness professional who happens to be a mom - "You will be a better mom, wife, friend, boss, sister, neighbor, employee or business owner if you make you and your health a priority. An hour is nothing in the scheme of a day.

Go back to that feeling of independence you had once in your life. Go back to the time when you experienced the rush of your first taste of this true independence. Now, insert time in your day for you. As a working mom you need an hour of power everyday. Exercise is a way for you to feel independence, clear your head, organize your thoughts and have time for you. Exercise is and should be for you.

Hiring a personal trainer is a way to ensure that you get your hour of power. Schedule exercise appointments into your week for you and then, like a Doctor's appointment (or hair appointment) let nothing get in the way of you giving this time to you. When you work with a personal trainer - you don't have to make decisions or plan what to do next. The time is efficient, and for the first time about you. Schedule an appointment to interview and investigate a personal trainer in your area. You deserve it. Your family deserves it. Make it happen and ask yourself "what can this working mother do for herself today?"

About the Author:

Jane Westreich

Fitness Together - Mequon



www.mequonfitness.com

Fitness Together - Third Ward



www.thirdwardfitness.com