In honor of the 2014 Boston Marathon, I am sharing my favorite ways to carve out me time to help me fuel my daily marathon.
As many of you know, Boston is my second home. After flying across the country at the young age of 17 to attend Boston University, I quickly fell in love with the city. To this day, I am smitten with the incredible food, magnificent architecture, rich history and the unmistakable sense of pride.
Bostonians are my people. In fact, Boston produced my husband. Since I’m a sappy young mom, I often think about how I would never have met my husband had I not moved out there. Without him, I would not have my two beautiful boys. It was the best decision of my life and I am forever indebted to the city of Boston for making all of my wildest dreams come true.
….and now I’m starting to get teary-eyed! Get it together, Liz.
Because of my love for the city of Boston, I was beyond thrilled when I learned that Stonyfield is the official yogurt sponsor of the 2014 Boston Marathon. As part of their sponsorship, they are doing some incredible work:
- They are sending 10 runners who just missed the cut-off due to this year’s high number of sign ups.
- They are handing out hundreds of thousands of cups of organic yogurt on race day to runners, their families, volunteers, etc.
- They are giving out a bunch of healthy living prizes including a year long gym membership on the day of the marathon. Simply tweet or instagram #StonyfieldSuperFan
While I’ve never run in an official race, let alone a marathon, I would be lying if I said my everyday life doesn’t sometimes feel like a bit of marathon. Working from home and raising a 5 month old and a 2 year old often makes every single day feel like a bit of a race.
By the time boy boys are finally fed, bathed and asleep for the evening, I often feel like I’ve won my daily marathon.
To help me get through the day, I try to carve out a few moments of me time so that I can take a breath, regroup and recharge. Whether I have 5 minutes, 15 minutes or an entire hour, I always make it a priority to carve out this me time. The fact is, I am a better mother, wife, friend, daughter, sister and blogger if I make myself a priority. Once I realized this, it helped eliminate the guilt that is often attached with taking time for ourselves.
Depending on how much time I can squeeze out on a given day, these are my favorite ways to fuel my daily marathon:
When I just have 5 minutes, I try to make a healthy snack. I’m a huge fan of Stonyfield Greek Yogurt and love mixing it with cocoa powder, natural peanut butter or banana slices. The yogurt gives me protein-packed energy and the cocoa powder nips my chocolate cravings in the bud and prevents me from eating allofthechocolate.
When I can find 30 minutes to myself, I love taking a warm bubble bath. This usually happens during nap time or when my husband is home from work and can watch the boys. I never took baths before having kids but somehow committing to the process of drawing a bath forces me to relax unlike a shower where I usually try to get in and out as soon as possible.
When I have a full hour to myself, I almost always try to get to the gym. Hands down, nothing gets my heart rate pumping for an entire hour like a group exercise class. Lately, I’m obsessed with Kickboxing and Cardio Blast. Whether I bring the boys to the gym daycare or leave them with my husband, I never regret working out. Never. You never, ever regret working out. I promise. And, nothing gets your feel good hormones pumping faster and stronger than exercise. It’s more effective than any prescription or pill and that makes me happy.
What is your favorite way to carve out me time? How do you overcome the inevitable obstacles of making time for yourself? I would love to hear from you. Be sure to tweet #StonyfieldSuperFan if you’re on Twitter or Instagram!
Disclaimer: Stonyfield has compensated me for my time to share my thoughts on fueling my daily marathon. As always, all thoughts are 100% my own.
Great post! I wonder how I am going to balance it all when I am hopefully a mom someday :) I know it is super important to have some time to yourself! Thank you for the inspiring words!!
You will figure it out just like everyone does!!! Thank you for reading!
Boston is one of my most favorite cities ever! Love this post!
Thank you so much friend!! Mine too!
I’ve always wanted to go to Boston, and you are making it apparent it needs to be the next place on my list! What a great post, thanks for sharing!
You MUST go there!!
Love this post! And I forgot that you met your hubs in Boston!! Thinking about that city a lot this week. :)
And big cheers to gym time and BUBBLE BATHS. Two of my favs as well!
Aww thank you friend!!! You would laugh – we met online through “Love @ AOL” before Match.com existed – LOL!! Yikes. :)
What, you met online? How did I never know this Very Important Detail??
Totally awesome.
You’re like Meg Ryan in “You’ve Got Mail”…but way cooler. :)
Umm….You’ve Got Mail is one of our favorite movies!! LOL It came out when we started dating and we used to love it. Too funny!!
I can totally understand your emotions in this post! I love to use Stonyfield yogurt in my smoothies for my portable breakfast and do it often, especially a great summertime treat that feels like dessert for breakfast. :) I’m much older than you (my sons are probably closer to your age!) and I miss all my time with them, back then I didn’t get much me time. Now that they are grown and no longer even remotely close to our home, I get too much me time sometimes. ;) Loved your post!
I know what you mean – I know one day soon I will miss these days!! Thank you so much!
I grew up in Boston and actually worked on the BU campus at one time. It’s a wonderful city that I miss very much. Very walkable and clean! Boston will always have a special place in my heart as well. PS, the boys are adorable!
No way!!! What a small world!! I really miss Boston. Thank you so much Melissa!
Working out is my favorite way to get me time too. Having a cup of tea is a shorter,quicker way that I enjoy me time. It’s essential. I love boston too. Such a great town.
So funny, I’m brewing tea as I type. :)
I ADORE Boston! I didn’t know that you had such close ties to the city. What a great story!
Yes!! That’s why I was such a stalker when you ate your way through the Cape!! :)