I really haven't been able to truly get into blogging about my life, which is a little odd considering how much I enjoy typing up lengthy emails to my family and friends. I'm pretty busy with the kids. Christopher will be 12 soon, Annika is 9, Lilly is 6, and Zoe is 12 months old. We are about to begin our new homeschool year - the first one with all three kids. I'll admit I'm a lot worried about it. I started doing "trial runs" last week, to see what kind of routine will fit us best. I've been able to identy some weak spots, and that is helpful. I will begin to address these weak spots so that I may set us up for success, so to speak. I know full well that no matter what I do, this year will be a stressful one. Zoe is still very demanding, and Christopher is still very difficult to work with. The thing is, I really don't want to continue living with so much stress. I get stressed out for so many reasons, and it's just not what I'm looking for in my life. So, I'm going to change things, just a little at a time, to see if I can't eliminate most of the stress I've been living with especially since I became a mother. I'm going to need to let go of some things, maybe a lot of things. I often think of great things I could be doing to feel less stress, but I forget these ideas pretty quickly. So, I will attempt to use this blog as a place where I keep my ideas for stress elimination.
I have taken one important step to caring for myself. I've been taking yoga classes at my local gym. The teacher uses aroma therapy towards the end of each practice session, and I've enjoyed that considerably. My goal is to continue practicing yoga, even if I'm only able to attend one session per week. I predict that as we get closer to starting with school, I will begin to feel guilty about taking the time out of our day to get to the gym so I can have a work-out. It is difficult to justify going there when I know we're going to have a hard enough time finishing our lessons.
