Happy February!
Was it just me or did January and this week in general drag on F-O-R-E-V-E-R? The combination of jury duty and a stressful work month really did me in but, my focus on health and wellness really helped balance the stress of the month. Instead of feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, I was able to end the month feeling really good and inspired for the next eleven months.
In order to help keep myself accountable of the goals I made for the year, I want to take time to REFLECT at the close of each month. Historically, I’ve had a hard time keeping track of goals or resolutions because often I would chose them at the beginning of the year, share them and then rarely think about them again. In fact, the only times I’ve found success working towards goals is when I carve out time to reflect. So, earlier this week, I shared my reflections on Instagram, 29 days into the year. Here, my friends, is where I stand so far.
1) Disconnect more – I’ve done a great job of showing and giving my friends, family and colleagues the attention they deserve by being fully engaged and saying goodbye to multitasking or using my phone while I’m with them. Sometimes, during the work day especially, it can prove difficult to focus on one task and not give into the temptation to multi-task, but I am getting better. In my parent life, I’d give myself a B in regards to how much time I give her my dedicated attention without my phone as I find myself so tempted to capture every giggle, laugh and roll.
2) Run a 5k, 10k & half – I’m signed up for a New York Road Runners (NYRR) 4 mile race in Prospect Park a month from now and this has helped keep me motivated to run two times per week! The runs haven’t been long, and in fact I had to listen to the Nike+ Run Club’s coached workout, Don’t Wanna Run Run during last Sunday’s run. As I’m slowly building up my endurance and cardio strength, I am finally craving runs and, in fact, woke up at 5:15 this morning to meet some local Brooklyn moms for a run. I’d call that progress versus where I was at the beginning of January!
3)Survive a 90 min or double Flywheel Sports class on our Flywheel Fly Anywhere bike – Since we now have a spin bike in our bedroom, it is hard to make excuses. While I owe you guys a full review, I’m still working my way through the various classes that are offered. I’ve found myself squeezing in the 20-minute classes frequently and pushing myself during the four song classes. On average, I’ve been riding three times a week and, as of this week, finally feel as if I’m starting to make improvements. Spinning and cycling do not come easy to me but, yesterday I did a 20 minute class that I took at the beginning of the month and saw a clear improvement in my stats and how I felt at the end of the workout!
4) Continue reading each night – I’ve been reading a lot of magazines recently and have kept up my goal of reading for at least 10 minutes and I’ve even added mediation using Headspace. Tonight, I’m looking forward to continuing Little Fires Everywhere.
5) Practice yoga once a month – I took two wonderful hot power yoga classes this month at Heatwise and Body Alive. This was probably the easiest goal to achieve as the long hours at a desk combined with holding Katie each night had me craving deep hip and back stretches as well as chest openers.
6) Blog two times a week – This has been harder than expected and I’ve been lucky to blog once a week BUT I’ve built engagement on Instagram! This was the goal that frustrated me the most this month because I have so many topics on my iPhone list AND I get constant requests from you all. I want to share my breast feeding journey, Katie’s monthly updates, how we found our nanny, our evening routine, my adjustment to life as a working mom and more but, I find that posts like those take a lot longer. My idea, in order to make them more manageable, is to attempt to tackle two per month. This month’s goal is Katie’s monthly update and my breastfeeding journey.
7) Invest in my relationship with Bo – We enjoyed our monthly date night on Saturday at a Dumonet, new French restaurant in the neighborhood thanks to our amazing babysitter & friend Heather. As luck would have it, thanks to family visiting and schedules, we have date nights the next two Saturdays!
As I approach February, I feel great about saying goodbye to the month and keeping my focus as I head into February. The only thing I’m adding is stepping on the scale once a week to begin driving progress and accountability towards making a few healthy eating changes. I know the scale is just a number, but the once a week accountability has always been helpful for me and I’d like to feel a bit stronger and more confident in time for our summer beach trip!
