With the beginning of the new month came the unofficial end of Summer. School started 3 weeks ago! Where did the summer go? We were just counting down the days until our June beach vacation and we're already in another school year. My clients and I have been disussing the last few days why the first day of the new school year is such a big deal to moms. We have come to the conclusion that it's an in-your-face reminder of how quickly your children are growing and that time is ticking away. I tell this story frequently to make my point. When Reagan was very little a lot of my friends had kids that were starting Kindergarten and I remember how utterly ridiculous they would act on the first day of Kindergarten. I swore I would not be that mom. Needless to say, I was that mom and probably worse because of PPD. Upon contemplating this (because that's what I do is contemplate everything to its death), I came to see that it was due to unrealized expectations. When you bring home your baby from the hospital you think you have so much time because all of it is out in front of you. You make plans, you dream of all the things you will do with your child and teach your child in those first 5 years. And perhaps you do some of them and others you put on a back burner because "there's plenty of time". And then you're dropping them off or sending them on the school bus for their first day of Kindergarten and you are shockingly overtaken by the reailzation that those 5 years are gone forever. You can never get them back and the next phase of your child's life (and yours) has begun. One word sums it up for me: regret. Perhaps not all moms feel this way but when I was in the throes of PPD, the walk home from the bus stop without my "baby" was agonizingly regretful.
This month Reagan started 4th grade. Each year is definitely not like that first day of Kindergarten but it still has it's bittersweet moments. Thankfully, I feel like I made the very most of the moments I had with Reagan over the summer. And I owe so much of my new carpe diem attitude to Beachbody and Shakeology!
Instead of being too tired, too depressed, or too down on myself because of my appearance, I was up and ready to go each day. We had weekly lunch dates, just the 2 of us while the younger two were in summer day camp. We went to Six Flags and had a blast and were even able to catch the last ride of the night for our favorite ride, Mind Bender, because we RAN from one side of the park to the other. I would NOT have been able to do that last year. Ha!!
During the first week of school, I also participated in my first-ever 5-day Clean Eating Challenge. My coach was hosting this as a Facebook Challenge Group and even though I've been doing fantastic with my workout programs, I knew my eating habits could stand to be "cleaned" up. The basic rules were: Shakeology 1x per day, stay active each day, and follow a Clean Eating diet.
I was surprised at how easy and fun that it was! I had so many delicious meals that week! I was never hungry, I felt amazing, and I lost almost 2 inches off my waist.....IN 5 DAYS! It was so awesome that I have decided to host my own challenge group which kicks off tomorrow morning! I can't wait to post the results from that.
