Home Blessings and Exercise

The really good news is that I like coming home now. Yes, I do. For months, no, for years, I entered my house with varying amounts of distress. It was often really good to be greeted by the dog, who didn't mind if we lived in chaos. And family was pretty tolerant of mess and contributed regularly, too. But I often stepped into my house with a cloud of failure hanging over me. Just seemed like the house had gotten away from me. Oh, sure, there were times I made islands of order and cleanliness. There were times company was coming and I did the mad scramble cleaning and fake orderliness.

But now, less than 2 months after meeting the Flylady, I am happy to step into my house. I feel much less burdened. Decluttering is very freeing. Is my house perfect? Oh, definitely not. Am I making progress? Definitely. And by me just being happy with our house, hubby has been influenced to create some order, too.

One thing I've discovered as I have developed my Flylady routines is that I am incredibly distractible. And I didn't know that about me. For years I worked, and followed time management principles and managed TO DO lists. I thought I was pretty disciplined in my work habits. But at home I flitted around the house, going to dust the end table I see a pillow that needs to be sewn and on the way to get the needle and thread I find trash that needs to be thrown away and then I see the trash needs to go out to the dumpster and then I see weeds around the dumpster and I may or may not get the end table dusted and the pillow sewn -- and that was without the phone ringing or the kids needing something. I am getting better and better at being able to focus for 10 minutes on one room or one project. Flylady's trick of setting a timer for 5 minute and 10 minute and 15 minute "missions" is really helping me to stay on task and accomplish more.

My new hobby is house cleaning, or as Flylady calls it, blessing the house. When I felt like I was behind and struggling there was no joy in it. Now that I'm on top of things -- and confident that if there is something that needs to be done, the daily routines or zone cleaning will get it soon enough -- it feels good to maintain an orderly and clean home. As Flylady says, "You are not behind. Jump in where you are!"

Now how does all this relate to SparkPeople fitness and goal achievement? Perhaps more than you think. To accomplish anything you have to have enough focus to stay on task sufficient time to achieve it. Losing and maintaining weight takes time - time to plan, time to track, time to grocery shop, time to cook, time to exercise, time to read and learn what to do. Right now I'm coaching someone going through The Beck Diet Solution and today is her Day 9, Create Time and Energy. Beck has you set priorities in your life and look for things to cut back on in order to have sufficient time to lose weight. Good idea. Then she has you develop a schedule for all the necessary activities.

I had struggled with a bad attitude about housework for many years. When I got serious about losing weight I really expanded my exercise time. (First it was half hour 5 days a week, then went to one hour 6 days a week.) And often I took what had been my housecleaning time to do so. I indulged myself. I really enjoyed the exercise more than the cleaning anyway. I'm not sorry I did it. It worked for me. I lost the weight (80+ pounds) and I've kept it off (4.5 years). But if I had to do it again, or I was making a recommendation to someone, I'd say for 2-6 months it might be a good strategy, but don't let your house get as bad as mine was!! Check out Flylady and learn how to maximize your home blessing time. I bet you will find, like I have, that you do have enough time to exercise and to bless your house enough that you are really comfortable in it. It is great to open up the front door and be totally glad to enter!!