The Fine Art of Time Management........maybe?

OK, so let me say this all starts out because of a "come to Jesus" talk my doctor and I had about my "weight issue".  He wants to know what "we" are going to do about it? I nodded along with some advice about how I should exercise more and do a better job watching what I eat.  Sounds easy enough doesn't it? But then I began to calculate all the things you should do in order to lead what most would consider a happy, healthy, productive existence. 

First things first, you should know my weight has been a topic of discussion ever since I had my baby boy Drew.  The second thing you should know is that Drew will be 10 years old in November of this year.  Prior to his arrival I was never larger than a size 6 at my smallest a 4.  So the pooch and the pounds never really went away, all in all I would like to lose about 50 lbs. so I can be a reasonable 135 lbs.  Again sounds easy enough.  However lets look at the math, and consider what it really takes to be "healthy" according to all that we see or read about in the check out lines across the USA.

First we must start with a good nights rest, most literature suggests the average adult should have 8 hours of sleep.....check.  Already our 24 hours in a day have been reduced by a third. 

Next is the ever popular drinking of eight 8 oz. glasses of H2O per day, which means a lot of peeing or this equates to about about 6.5 trips to the rest room per day at a reasonable rate of 5 minutes per trip in order to get to a rest room, do your business, fix clothes, adjust makeup etc., and wash hands (though the men may not take quite this long as they are not washing their hands as much as they should).  Don't believe me?  Ask to smell the hands of the man in your life when he returns from a bathroom break in record time, chances are his hands don't smell like soap!  So that leads us to another 32 minutes down the drain, no pun intended.

 Next we need to eat right?  The latest and greatest is 5-6 small meals a day, it is highly recommended to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and lean protein, so again a lot of time involved with the eating, the prep work of washing, cutting, and storing of these small meals etc., not to mention if you are prepping many small meals for an entire family.  I am going to be general hear and give about 1.5 hours a day given to food prep, eating, storage etc.  So where are we?  Down to about 13.9 hours left in our day.  So how are we going to pay for this food? 

Why work of course, so tack on another 8 hours or more including commute, of which the average US commute is 24.4 minutes, I looked it up.  So lets just be generous and include the commute and job and any side trips to babysitters day care etc. and say about 9 hours wrapped up in our jobs.  I know I work outside of work and many of us take work home but bear with me.  Which leaves us with 4.9 hours.

So we can't show up to work smelly and unkempt so we must prepare for the day I will go with a conservative 45 minutes to shower, shave, blow dry, and style.  Make up??  OK maybe a few more minutes but we got a tight schedule to keep.  And  God forbid you have little ones to get ready as well, that could throw the whole time line off.  Again I am being very conservative here, remember wash rinse, repeat as necessary takes time.  And what about getting ready for bed?  According to my lady at the Estee Lauder counter before bed I need to cleanse, tone, apply "magic serum", and moisturize...just 4 uber quick steps to a flawless, glowing complexion!  So let's kick in another 15 minutes of bedtime ritual prep (this may include your kids bedtime story as well).  So we are down to what....3.9 hours.

Now what?  The kids the pets?  Kids, they need our guidance and assistance, let's say help with home work and a few minutes of quality time...45 minutes.  Doesn't seem right does it, we need a family dinner so our kids don't turn into juvenile delinquents or worse so I will tack on an additional 30 minutes for the meal and table clearing/dishes. But come on!  We have a schedule to keep.  Now only 3.15 hours left.  Oh yeah, the pets.  It is suggested that we walk our pets in the morning and at night, more if they don't get any free time in a back yard...maybe 30 minutes for 2 walks, scooping the poo and getting coats and shoes on etc.  Time is winding down and still so much to do in our last 2.15 hours. 

What about cleaning, paying bills, and appointments?  Trips to the library, the bank, the store to buy the food for the 5-6 small meals per day, special school projects, ballet, t-ball, soccer?  Maybe if there is time.  I will say about 75 minutes for these items, including commute, some of these activities would even count as quality time with the kids.

What lead me hear in the first place, oh yeah.....I am supposed to lose weight, exercise?  So what is left for the exercise?  By my calculations about 54 minutes before every waking moment of my life is consumed by something!  So in that precious 54 minutes in which I need to get to where ever I am going to exercise, do my thing and get back home because I am out of time. Skinny jeans here I come!

So what did I forget??  Probably a whole hell of a lot.  So what is the moral of the story?

When it is all said and done there is never ever, I repeat, NEVER enough time to do all the things we want to do.  Accept it and embrace it!  We each need to decide what OUR own personal priorities are and do what we can and be the best we can be, yet realize we all have limits.  There is no reason to beat yourself up when you can't do everything "they" (the magazines covers, self help books, and daily talk shows) say we are supposed to do in order to be happy and healthy!