One thing that I like to do at least once a month (though it's more often once a week) is look at my life and find areas where I can improve. I firmly believe that, as humans, we are prone to error and even negative behavior/words hurt others. I like to reflect on things which I feel that there is room for improvement and then make a plan on what to do to fix the problem. Over this month, I've realized a lot of areas that need a bit of improvement in my life.
1) Housekeeping. I am not a good housekeeper, but I wish I was. I have been working on implementing a daily cleaning schedule, originally taken from this wonderful site, and then adapted to fit my own needs. There are still some days when I don't get much or any cleaning done (these are usually the days when I'm not feeling well, so I try not to get down on myself for this).
2) Work on my friendships more. I'm also not the easiest friend to have. I often have to change or cancel plans because I'm not feeling well or because someone I'm going to hang out with is sick. I don't take chances with my health, which means that I do take chances with my friendships, unfortunately. That said, I'm trying to improve my messages sent to friends (through computer or text message), or just letting them know how much I care about them. This is an ongoing process and certainly will not be fixed overnight.
3) Work on being a better wife. My husband is amazing. I could never ask for a better spouse, but I feel like I am not as good about being a great wife. I am working on listening to him more to find out what he needs, and then working to give him what he needs. Right now we are in a rough schedule where my treatments keep us up too late, which in turn causes crankiness and is bad on our health. We are averaging 5 hours of sleep a night - not good. I'm trying to work specifically on this problem right now. The issue is that we are so tired by the time he gets home from work that we take a nap, which pushes everything off by a few hours. I'm trying to push through this so that I can just do my nighttime treatment by 7 PM and be in bed before midnight.
4) Exercise. Ahhh, my least favorite, but most necessary part of my day. I hate exercise, but my lungs crave it. I'm still working on getting in daily elliptical sessions while also including Yoga three times a week. The weather around here has been pretty mild recently as well, which means I need to start working on taking Maya (our dog) for a daily walk. It would be good for her and me.
5) Scheduling. This one kind of ties in to every single other area I need to improve upon. I need to set up a daily schedule for treatments, exercise, sterilization, work time, housekeeping time, and cooking dinner. If I have a schedule that I follow (and stick to for more than a day or two) then our life will be much calmer and easier.
So, for the remainder of this month (and next month) these are just some of the things I'm working on improving in my life. I truly believe we all have these areas in our life, and I challenge you to look at what you can improve upon.
Aw Megan, I am sure you are a fantastic wife and from what I have seen so far, you're a fantastic friend! Your true friends will understand you needing to put your health first and not judge you for that! I agree that it is good to address those things we need to improve in life...if you don't see room for improvement, you can become blind to error! All the best sweetie xxx
ReplyDeleteWhat great goals, and what a great tradition! I have always had a very simple cleaning schedule for my home. I had to re-do it after we moved, since we are for the first time living in a bigger place with two floors instead of just a tiny two-bedroom apartment. I try to keep my daily chores quite simple, though, so that I don't get worn out. Right now my schedule is: Monday - laundry day (we usually have about 3 loads of laundry which I wash and dry during the day, and then we fold at night while we watch our one TV show). Tuesday - bathroom day (I clean both bathrooms; I at least get the toilet and vanity scrubbed, and try to get to the floors and bathtub as well, but if I miss them one week that is okay.) Wednesday - tidying and dusting downstairs; also cleaning the kitchen floor. Thursday - tidying and dusting upstairs. Friday - vacuuming the stairs and landings (we have a robot vacuum that does the other stuff). I've found that if I keep my stuff simple, and if I stay on top of daily stuff like dishes and picking up after myself, then I can keep my weekly chores pretty simple.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your goals! We sometimes run into the late night because of therapy issue, too. It's hard, because I feel like so much of our evening time together is taken by my therapy, and so sometimes I am not as prompt at starting it as I should be!
OMG I desperately need a better schedule. I need to be in bed by 10:00 in order to get 8 hours of sleep. I start my treatments at 8:00 and still don't get in bed on time. I feel like in order to be in bed by 10:00 I will have NO life outside of work. And I am always putting off sanitizing which throws everything off schedule.
ReplyDelete5 hours of sleep!!! My husband and I would both be dead if we only got 5 hours...we are both needy in the sleep department.
Thank you so much ladies!!
ReplyDeleteI love that you also have a schedule, Cindy! It seems to be working out well. I think we all seem to have issues with our treatments at night. I agree with you both. I feel like my time with my husband is so precious that I end up pushing off my treatment to spend more time watching a show/movie or just being together. Ugh..treatments!
Inhaling Hope, 5 hours of sleep is not enough for us either. We're craving sleep.