so i went to the gym this morn and i did a half hour on the treadmill and another half hour on the eliptical. it feels soo good no i have to keep my cousins two kids so she can go to the doc this morn in milwaukee and then i am going to my friend's house to teach her how to make tamales ( no worries i wont eat any!) then i will come home and make dinner and make sure my fiancee gets off to work. i will then have his god daughter tonight for a few hours.. and this is supposed to be my vacation. i am soo stupid busy all the time... i work and go to college and have an internship and i am engaged and i am trying to raise 4 good kids and now losing weight...i need to go to vegas for like 2 weeks to escape! lol

katie, I know what you mean about busy..just put yourself on top of that priority list and everything else will fall into place..I learned the hard way...now, nothing comes before my nutrition, sleep and exercise..I must take care of myself before I worry about others or other things..it doesn't work the other way..

Or you could say no to some of the requests. Are you the kind of person who takes care of everyone else and doesn't want disappoint others? It seems you have a lot on your plate raising kids, being in school, having an internship, and planning for a wedding not to mention trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I remember talking to a lady in AA about how important it was to stay sober. She said the hardest part for her was learning that she had to put her meetings and sobriety ahead of everything and everyone else because if she didn't do that, the rest would just fall apart anyways. Her analogy was that taking care of herself was the engine that pulled the rest of the train in her life. If she put the cars that held her family in front of it, whenever they came to a bend in the tracks, they would get shoved off track creating a train wreck for everyone.

Most of us, especially us women, believe that we have to put everyone else ahead of ourselves or we are being selfish. That's total Bull!!! If we don't take care of ourselves, we won't be around to take care of anyone for very long.

Operator265 - Ditto!

I'm really struggling with the concept that "busy" is my choice. Once you're involved in so many things, its tough to pull back because you feel like you're letting people down or not being a productive member of society or a good worker or whatever. It is so hard to say, "I need and want to take care of myself" and stick by it.

It is hard. To me, it's not even just about taking care of myself. It's about it being a valid choice to just choose a less busy life. It's not normal anymore, and even looked down on. And it's hard to feel you're not missing out. I think it's a feeling you just have to let fade with time. There is so much information available, and so many activities possible, that it can be overwhelming to choose only a few.