Not up...not down

I was exactly the same weight today as last week. I am glad I didn't gain, but I have no excuses for not losing. I ate a few things I shouldn't have and I didn't exercise so there you have it. My stress level is off the charts right now and stress is NOT my dieting friend. Actually, stress is not my friend in any way. So, somehow I need to figure out how to let go of the stress.

I did make a huge step toward letting go this past weekend. This is going to sound silly, so I'll admit that right up front, but it was a really big deal to me. I did the laundry on Saturday. That's right, that was my major letting go moment. For years and years and years I have done the laundry every Monday, and it's been great. I have loved getting up on Monday mornings and doing all the laundry. I only do laundry once a week and I always (or almost always) do it on Monday.

That's the luxury of a stay at home mom...to be able to do the laundry every Monday, to have your life run on a schedule and to have time to do those kinds of things when you want to do them. But it's time to face the facts and quit causing myself so much stress and start doing laundry on Saturdays. I've always been grateful to be one of the moms that didn't have to do laundry on Saturday. I've always been so grateful to have been at home and have the luxury of doing all those kinds of things during the week days. And I've been holding onto hope that things would go back to the way they were, but it's not gonna happen, so it's time to let go and make some adjustments.

I realize how silly this sounds to most people, but I have kind of hung my hat on the stay at home mom hook for many many years. It's a great blessing to be at home with your kids, and I'm so very grateful I've been able to do that. The truth is that even though I am working now I am blessed to work at home most of the time and mostly when the kids are in school so if you have to work, and I do have to work, then this is the way to do it. But doing the laundry on Mondays was making the rest of the week crazy. By taking time to do the laundry I didn't get in enough work hours and then I have been scrambling the rest of the week to catch up. Stress! Not my friend!

So Saturday I decided to do the sensible thing (finally) and do the laundry. I have to admit, this week I have had a much better work week and I'm not behind, in fact, I'm ahead in my hours. That feels good. And that's my goal, to feel good. I haven't really felt good for a while. I have moments of feeling good, and times of feeling good, but I've let stress take way too much of a toll and I've spent a fair amount of time feeling less than good. So, in this journey to be healthier, I also need to do things that will help me feel healthier mentally and emotionally.

I'm sure this post seems very strange to anyone who will read it, but I wanted to write this down so I can remind myself to make the necessary changes in my life that will help me feel my best. I'm working on having a more positive attitude and focusing on all my blessings, and trust me, I have lots of blessings.

I'm hoping that by letting go the extra pounds will also let go. I'm grateful for the chance to keep trying!