Wasting Time

Is your self-perception the same as other people's perception of you?  Do you even care? I'm thinking if you are a woman the answer to the second question is yes and if you are a man the answer is no, just my vast generalization hypothesis, there are exceptions. As a woman of a certain age, I am beginning to care less and less, but I still care!  I only wish I cared less when I was younger.  I think caring what other people think of you when you are young holds you back, especially if you are a woman.  At least it did in my case.  I am positive I "coulda been somebody"  but I spent too much time worrying about what other people though of me. This flaw came to my attention a couple of weeks ago on a ski trip.

We love skiing!  We are a lot better than we think we are too!

I was skiing with my sister, my best good friend, my husband and my brother in law.  We (the girls) were constantly critiquing our ski technique.  "I look awkward.  I wish I were a better skier, blah, blah, blah."  We were all very critical of how we skied.  BUT if you asked anyone else, we all ski much better than we think we do.  Why are we so hard on ourselves?  I'm sure the guys all thought they looked like Bode Miller flying down the hill.  Women are so quick to cut themselves down while men think they are Superman.  I grew up when you were considered conceited, which was bad, if you thought you were good at anything and openly admitted it.  We've come a long way baby....things are so much different now, in a good way.  It's OK to be confident in your abilities and to openly admit your strengths.  Be a man!

Self perception is very interesting.  Are you the person they think you are?  If we think we ski differently than others see, then how different is who we think we are from who"they" think we are?   Recently, my eyes have been opened to the fact that others see me differently than I see myself.  After 57 years I find this out! Once again, part of the way I see myself has to do with my insecurities.  I look at myself from the inside out and everyone else sees me from the outside in.   Some of it is for the better and some of it is for the worse.

 According to all those time-wasting surveys on Facebook I am most like Sarabi, the mother in the Lion King and coincidentally my ideal Disney mate is Mufasa, perrrrfect.  My '60's song is Knights In White Satin,  my true favorite color is green as opposed to my real favorite color, which is... green.  My spiritual gift is compassion, I really am a bleeding heart underneath my lion-like exterior.  If I were a city I would be New Orleans....duh!  I also know when to use too, two, to, than, then, accept, except, they're, their, there and other commonly misused words. Which makes me kind of a word nerd or just someone who learned what I was taught.  I'm a sucker for a quick quiz but I don't really put much stock in them other than for their entertainment and, of course, time-wasting value.

One thing I should probably stop wasting my time on is worrying about what other people think of me!  Let's all give ourselves more credit than we usually do because we are all better than we think we are!

 

3 Boys Boot Camp

Most people go for the traditional January shape up routine.  They go to the gym, start spin class, do Pilates, or join Weight Watchers.  This year I went a different route.  I recommend it to anyone who sits too much and just wants to get up and get moving.  I took care of my three grandsons for a few days!  Midway through the first day hour, I was already worn out!  I don't even consider myself a couch potato or a wimp but the pace of my everyday life compared to the pace in that household is dramatically different!  I realized very quickly that I live a life a luxury.....well, I've probably known this for a while!  My time is my time, most of the time, and I've adjusted to this very easily!

A typical day here and there....
Here-
 up at 6:45, leisurely get dressed, brush hair, put makeup on, drink hot tea, eat breakfast, read email and other useless stuff on my computer, clean the kitchen, feed the dog, grab my purse or golf clubs (depending on the day) and head out to my morning activity.
There-
 up at 6 to get a head start on the boys, brush my teeth and hair, grab whatever clothes are clean, make the bed, get the 3 boys up (unless one or more woke up earlier than 6 and thas is a whole different ballgame)  dressed and downstairs with hair and teeth brushed, carry John, who is not a light load, up and down the stairs a couple of times to check on dressing and grooming progress of other two boys.  Heat water for tea, feed 3 boys various breakfasts, forget water for tea and reheat, chase John out of the open bathroom, turn off water and close toilet and the bathroom door...again, untangle two older boys from each other's clutches and tell them to put their boots, coats, gloves and hats on for school.  Pour water into tea cup with tea bag, make sure back packs have all necessary items for school, make tea, corral John again, wait for carpool.  Send oldest two boys out to catch their ride, close the garage, try to occupy John while I drink my now tepid tea and eat my breakfast which is now a petrified english muffin, while keeping one eye on him.  Take him to day care looking like a tired grandmother.  Melt when he runs back to me and hugs my leg and looks up and says "Gigi!".  Totally worth drinking tepid tea and a brick hard english muffin for breakfast!

I've never seen anyone get so excited about oatmeal!
 Makes me wish I was oatmeal.

Some untangling required.

Here-
Go to yoga  in a freezing cold gymnasium with the ambiance of a locker room while wearing long pants, yoga top, jacket and socks.  Finally feel warmed up about 15 minutes into class.
There-
Go to hot yoga  in a lovely, serene, 95-100 degree yoga studio wearing regular yoga clothes .  Leave class warm to the core and feeling like I can take on the rest of the day!

Here-
I check my phone or computer dozens of times a day.  I think in complete sentences.  Seldom feel any urgency in my day.
There-
Phone?  Where is my phone?  John has it, he wants to "see" pictures of himself and his brothers.  I don't dare get on the computer for fear that will only beg the next question from one of the boys, "Can we play on the iPad?"  Which will result in disappointment because they aren't allowed to play iPad during the week.  (Yay, Mommy and Daddy!)  I experience many moments of urgency while I'm there, "Where is John?"  "What was that noise?"  "Is someone hurt?" "It took a lot longer to get everyone ready than I expected and now we are late!".

Here-
Many days just creep by following a daily routine.
There-
The hours between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. seemed to fly by while the time between 3p.m and bedtime is an endless blur of constant activity.

It has been almost 10 years since I sat in a carpool line!  Things haven't changed.....

Here-
Dinner is leisurely prepared and eaten, if we eat at home.
There-
Dinner is prepared on the go, with many distractions.  It is eaten about the same way too!

Here-
The house is quiet most of the time except for TJ in his office doing the cell yell and Sadie snoring on her bed.
There-
Quiet only exists between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., otherwise there is always someone talking, running, laughing, or crying.


Here-
I never go upstairs unless I'm expecting company, then I do a perfunctory dusting, sweeping and bed changing.
There-
I went up and down two sets of stairs MANY times a day.  Some of those trips involved carrying John.  Between all the bedrooms being upstairs and the playroom being in the basement, my quads and knees got quite the workout! Not to mention the weight lifting.

Here-
I enjoy a glass of wine before dinner and another after dinner.
There-
Absolutely no way to drink wine before dinner and being a responsible Gigi I only had one glass after the boys were in bed.  By that time I was too tired for another!

Funny thing is that at the beginning of the week I was a bit  totally overwhelmed and exhausted but by the end of the week I think we had gotten into our own little routine and my stamina was up to the 3 boys boot camp level.  This was all training for the ski trip we took last week.  All those stairs carrying John really paid off on the slopes.  The cold weather training also came in handy.  Of course it was much warmer in Utah than it was in Wisconsin!

10:19 at night and it was a toasty 64 degrees inside and a frigid 0.8 outside.  Yikes!

All I need is another week of "3 boys boot camp" and another week of skiing and I can be at my goal weight.  So much better than going to the gym!

The view at lunch was amazing, almost makes you forget to eat.....NOT!

P.S.  Although I only published one post in January, I was busy writing and re-writing, you just didn't get to read any of it.  Believe me when I say, "You didn't miss much.".   This is one of the posts that I was working on in January.