Warning: Be careful if you’re feeling good.

I literally received an email today from OYNB with this as the subject line. Sounds crazy I know, but you’ll see why this is so true.

Body + Mind

206.1

I woke up at 4:15 this morning and I wasn’t tired, stepped on that scale to a pleasant surprise, had no ice on my car after a predicted ice storm, worked peacefully for three hours with very little interruption, attended a vigorous, but extremely enjoyable yoga class, walked dog #2, ate a healthy lunch, attended a productive work meeting, meditated and played with the kids

Now, I realize this isn’t the most exciting thing you’ve read all day and I can see how following along with my “I ate this” and “I did that” can get super boring but I am getting to a point.

This is about the time I think ‘I got this thing licked.’ You know what I’m talking about? Now that all the toxins from the booze, caffeine and sugar have left my body I forget about how shitty I felt. At this point, just when I am starting to see progress, I would sabotage.

It would start with an innocent glass of wine but then followed by a string cheese (or 2), or maybe a big bowl of Pirate’s Booty, or more likely, right out of the bag. Then I’d stay up later than I should, pouring more wine and bawling to This Is Us, promising myself that I wouldn’t feel bad about this reward in the morning.

Wednesday would roll around; the promise I made broken. Which, in turn, equals complete and utter failure, so all goals and intentions out the window until the next time I’d try.

This is real. That scenario has played out more times than I’d like to count but I’d put the number somewhere in the 40s…twice a year for 20+ years? That sounds about right. At more than one point, I just stopped caring at all, which is when shit got really scary.

The truth is I do feel really good. I don’t know if the Universe was like, “Fine, we’ll throw out some crumbs for her,” or it’s really true what they say about two weeks.

I don’t really care. I know I feel good, I saw some great results, my head is clearing and I took the first really good crap in 10 days.

Plus, it’s Taco Tuesday, so it was bound to be a good day.

House + Home

I put more items up for sale today and met a super sweet woman that bought a pair of toddler hockey skates. Clearly time to let those go.

Debt + Finances

Ok, this is where it gets good today.

Remember yesterday when I said I was going to start tracking what money comes in, no matter where it comes from? (By the way, I got this idea from Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas)

You are not going to believe this shit. I wrote it all down because I could hardly believe it myself.

• $442.20 – a reimbursement check I forgot I shoved in my coat

• $10 – sold hockey skates

• $100 – found in my personal Pay Pal account I never look at

• $.01 – found in the self-checkout at the grocery store

For realz. This shit works.

Parenthood + Relationships

I understand there is a common feeling out there that self-care, especially for women, is perceived as selfish. I personally don’t feel this way, although I haven’t done a very good job of taking care of myself, but I hear it from my friends all the time.

In the two weeks since I have started putting myself at the top of my to-do list, everyone around me has benefited. My husband is more at ease, my kids have been more pleasant, probably because I’m not screaming at them. I have crossed paths with a few of my favorite people that I didn’t even know I was missing them until I started seeing them again regularly.

Of course, I’m missing some friends I haven’t seen in a couple weeks, but everyone has shit going on this time of year and everything is not all about me, all the time.

Shocking, I know.

Travel + Staycations

If you love the cold, wind and freezing rain, you would have loved the walk I took today. I don’t know why I didn’t stop at the end of the driveway and say fuck this, but I didn’t.

And, I’m kicking my sisters ass in our Apple competition this week. A perfect staycation.

Just make it to two weeks. It was like a switch flipped this morning. That’s it for today.