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Fabulous Family Friday! Taking Care of Mama!

You’ve heard the saying:  If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!

There’s a BIG element of truth in there! ;)  

We truly are the “heart of the home”, and if we’re having a bad day….somehow it seems the rest of the family is, too!

We mamas are usually giving from dawn to dusk (and sometime from dusk to dawn!), serving our families in one aspect or another.  Often the tyrrany of the urgent drives us, and the important priorities don’t always happen.

One big one is, taking care of ourselves. 

Let me say right off I’m not advocating some aspect of “me time” at the expense of your family.  There’s enough written about that out in the world! 

But neither is it some form of Godliness to let yourself get so run down to the point you can no longer function well in your roles as child of God, wife, mama and homemaker.  Sometimes illness or a crisis (or several!) just makes it hard…sometimes it is our choices that lead to this point.

In my studies for becoming a personal trainer with T-Tapp, it has been interesting to see it reiterated over and over how our lifestyle choices are most often what cause the degenerative diseases of aging.   The seemingly “out of nowhere” fatigue, fibromyalgia, aches and pains, arthritis, thyroid issues, burned out adrenals….they didn’t come from bad genes or a virus, but little choices along the away that add up to BIG consequences!

(Sounds a bit like something I’ve read in the Bible somewhere….. ;) )

Now, there is the caution that we don’t become obsessed with being thin, looking youthful, or even eating well and being healthy.   We know as Christians that we live in a fallen world, and you can do a lot of things right and still suffer.

But neither do I think we should ignore the physical and suffer for our own foolish choices!  If we’re going to suffer, let it be for God’s glory and not for our foolishness!

I know as a young mama, taking care of all these areas at one time during some seasons of your life may not happen.  But your heart should be to do what you can in each season of life.  Because I’m here to tell you now, there will be a price to pay.   You can either do what you can to pay it now, and reap the dividends later, or you can say “I just don’t have enough energy to think about that right now” and you will also reap the dividends of that later–but it won’t be as pleasant!

1.  Time with the Lord

Yes, I know it’s tough with little ones.  I love how Nancy Campbell often admonishes mamas of many littles to keep their Bible by the kitchen sink.  Grab a verse here and there.  Or if “all” you get to read is half a Psalm, turn that into a prayer back to your Lord!  That’s what the Psalms were, anyway–hymns of praise to the Lord!  (Complaint sometimes, too, but always ending back on praise!)

Work on memorizing a verse–say it while diapering and doing dishes.  Your little ones can learn along with you.  Come up with hand motions (ASL browser has come in handy for me!  I used to borrow books from the library to come up with signs!)   So what if you only memorize one verse a week?  Or even a month?  That’s better than none!

One other thing you can do to feed your soul is sing hymns and praise songs!   Keep a hymnbook of choice handy with your Bible.   Or copy off a hymn you’re learning and tape it in a prominent place you spend a lot of time.   We try to sing a “hymn of the week” so my children will be more familiar with some of the great hymns.  At one time we even had a “hymn of the month”–that’s even better!  They will know that hymn forwards and backwards!  And so will you!

2. Emotional Health

This is pretty easy to write about, and pretty hard to do!

Probably the biggest 3 things you can do for your emotional health are:

1. Trust God

2. Let go of things

3. FORGIVE!

You have to begin with #1 or you can’t do #2 and #3!    Too many times our issues really stem from not trusting God for Who He says He is.   We don’t realize that and we’d certainly never say, “Oh I don’t really believe God is able to do that!  I don’t believe He is Who He says He is!”  but our actions say it quite loudly!

I read something very interesting in a book by John Ortberg, Faith and Doubt   (highly recommend it, by the way!).

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

Ben Patterson tells of a common experience of westerners, particularly missionaries, traveling through jungle sections of the Amazon.   They will ask members of a village to give them directions to where they want to go.  “I have a compass, a map, and some coordinates.” The villager knows precisely the directions to get them there, but he offers to take them himself.

“No, that’s okay.  I don’t want a guide.  I just want directions.”

“That’s no good.  I must take you there.”

“But I have a map right here.  And I have a compass.  And the coordinates.”

“It does not work that way.  I can get you there, but I must take you myself.  You must follow me.”

We prefer directions, principles,  steps, keys.  We prefer these things because they leave us in control. If I’m holding the map, I’m still in charge of the trip.  I can go where I want to go.  If I  have a guide, I must trust.  I must follow.  I must relinquish control.

God is not much on maps and compasses and coordinates.  Life just doesn’t work that way.  We don’t need directions.  We need a Guide.

 

~Faith and Doubt, p. 172 by John Ortberg (emphases mine)

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You will probably see that quote again on my blog.  It profoundly puts the proverbial finger right on our pulse, in many areas!!!

When we can’t “trust God”, we’re really saying, “I want to stay in control”.    So the first step MUST be to trust Him.  Then you can place things in His hands and leave them there.

And then you can forgive.  Forgiveness helps you more than the offender.  When you really boil it down, if you can’t forgive the person before they even ask for forgiveness (or if they ever do), you really won’t be able to forgive from the heart when they do ask.

Isn’t that what God did for us?

#3. Physical Health and Well-Being

Again, let me say I am not promoting a physical focus to the detriment of all else.  No obsessing!

This is why I love T-Tapp! (You knew I had to include that, right?! :D )

In just 15 -20 minutes a day, you can get some movement in, for way less than the cost of a gym membership (besides, who has time to run to the gym for 1 1/2 hours daily?!)   You can even do it every other day, and while you may not see major inch loss, you will still feel better for getting that lymph pumping and some movement in.

In fact, many people address diet first.  Well, way of eating.  Ah, neither one sounds good!  (Diet has DIE in it and way of eating is often shortened to WOE!  LOL!)

Actually, your first thought should be to get movement in.  Walking is good.  I will say, though, that walking is generally not as all-over body conditioning.  I know, because I walked for several years before finding T-Tapp.  It was definitely helpful, but the lump in my armpit didn’t get smaller with walking.  It did with T-Tapp! 

So you’re moving now, but what about eating?  Is it any wonder eating has become a billion dollar business—the food industry, the diet industry, the supplement industry—it’s enough to make your head spin!

And there is so much out there!  Low carb, high carb, low protein, high protein,  no fat, good fat, no sugar, fasting, low calorie, and a plethora of diet plans that have variations on the theme.

The problem is, though, that if we don’t understand how our bodies are fueled by food, we can be fooled by food!   

It is not a matter of calories in=calories out.  You don’t figure how many calories for maintenance and go below that to lose “weight”.  (You’ll lose, indeed.  Usually more muscle mass and water than fat!)  Nor do you figure how much to exercise to get your caloric intake just right.

It is far more complicated than that.

I’ll be sharing more next Tuesday on my T-Tapp Tuesday about food and dieting, but I wanted to share today, for you busy mamas, that getting moving and making sure you are eating as well as you can are more important than restricting calories to get thin, or thinking cutting food groups out will make you healthier.

Balance is the key.  If you eat a balance of good protein, good carbs, good fats and non-starchy vegetables, that will do so much good for your body’s metabolism.   In fact, if you just add more veggies into your eating, that alone will take care of some “poor choices”!  I’m not going to say, “give up sugar”, but make sure you’re getting plenty of other good food, too!

And one last thing for today–drink water!  You need half your body weight in ounces a day–more on hot days and when you exercise (meaning you don’t count the two glasses you drink while exercising as part of your normal total!).  Nursing mamas would obviously need a little more, too!

If that has you confused, I’ll demonstrate:

I weigh 146 lbs.  right now.  So I would need half of that, 73 but in ounces.  So I need to drink nine 8 oz. glasses of water during the day. 

It’s best to drink it throughout the day, and try not to gulp down water with meals.  Sipping water at a meal is fine, but that should not be where you get most of your water intake!  When your children (or you!) come to the dinner table and gulp down water first thing, that is a sure sign they didn’t drink enough throughout the day!

Our bodies need water for many functions, and it strengthens the immune system. 

AND–by the time you’re actually “thirsty”, you are already dehydrated!

So, busy mama–fill yourself a pitcher with the right amount of water in it, and make sure it’s empty by the end of the day.   That will help you make sure to get your water quota in!  If you find it hard to drink water, adding slices of lemon or lime or even cucumbers can help it taste refreshing and make you actually want to drink more! 

Please take time to take care of yourself, young mama!   (And older ones, too!)   Really, none of these steps requires much in the way of money, and really, not even that much time.  They do, however, require some effort to make them work.  But as in much of life, a little effort will bring rich rewards in refreshing you and helping you to be the best daughter of our Father, wife, mama and homemaker that you can be.

HUGS to you as you seek the Lord on how to take care of yourself, for His glory!

Then everyone will be happy…because mama is!  ;)

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11 Responses to “Fabulous Family Friday! Taking Care of Mama!”

  1. Sally says:

    Thanks, Trisch. I am waiting for my T-Tapp order to arrive! I know better than to commit to a one-hour workout each day, but 15 minutes I can do. And I’m sooo glad I don’t have to completely give up my chocolate. :)
    Wish me success!

    • Trisch says:

      LOL Sally!

      Well, if you have to give up chocolate, I’d be in trouble, too! ;)

      Just switch to dark chocolate, and if you start eating a REAL chocolate like Endangered Species, that waxy stuff won’t taste good anymore! Other than Turtles and York Peppermint Patties, I am hardly tempted at the checkout anymore!

      Congratulations on entering the T-Tapp world! Feel free to visit the forums for information or if I can help, you may e-mail me or post a comment and I’ll try my best to get back to you!

      HUGS!

  2. Mama Mirage says:

    Thank you. My husband just told me last night that Im running myself into the ground doing for everyone and hes worried about me. I really dont know how to be any other way. Something to work on.

    • Trisch says:

      Mama Mirage, start with baby steps. Take one area and try to do something to help. I would start with movement, as I said.

      Depending on where you live, it can be hard to walk this time of year! Maybe visit T-Tapp’s Try Before You Buy section and do a few moves–even if you learn the Hoedowns, you could do them after every meal! Hoedowns are proven to lower blood sugar and clear the mind (we all need that, right?!) as well as lift your emotions! A real boost!

      Here’s a link:

      http://www.t-tapp.com/try/index.html

      There’s a video player in the middle of the page–page 2 has Butterflies, which are also good, and page 3 has Hoedowns. Start with that and drinking enough water!

      HUGS to you, sweetie! DO take care of yourself!

      • Mama Mirage says:

        Thank you, I will try those! I am hypoglycemic so I have problems with my sugars being TOO low. Especially when I forget to eat, which is often. I do remember to drink though- I drink over a gallon a day of water most days.

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  4. AJ says:

    I am looking forward to your Ttapp Tuesdays!
    I purchased the total workout probably five or so years ago. I started but felt confused and didn’t like working out alone. I later joined a gym and did that for several years.
    This past summer, I suddenly got tired of going to the gym, the crowds, and the germ infested group class mats etc. I did yoga from tapes, used the elliptical and by last October I was back to my ttapp tapes. This time around I am really enjoying the tapes and working out from home. It does get a little lonely but so far I am sticking to it.
    I have been adding new workouts to my collection over time. I have the broom workout and just ordered January’s special. Next, I want the arms workout and then maybe the ladybug series.
    I have signed up at the forums but have yet to post.
    I emailed you years ago but I don’t think you ever got it.
    Anyway, I find your blog very inspirational and I look forward to reading more of your experiences with ttapp.

    • Trisch says:

      AJ, I’m sorry I never seemed to have gotten your e-mail! I have issues every now and then with my server, so perhaps it got lost in the shuffle! :(

      I’m glad you came back to T-Tapp! The forums are a wealth of knowledge, but they can be daunting at first!

      I had a season where my neighbor came over and worked out with me and that was fun! But most of the time I’m doing it alone. My girls are supposed to either do TappCore or MORE or BWO+ weekly. I joked with them that they will be one of my “classes” I have to teach during my mentoring! Nothing like a built-in class! LOL!

      Barefoot Basic is a challenge–and the tweaks you learn can transfer over into your other workouts, too! I need to watch mine–just got it. I was actually there when that one was filmed!

      Thank you for your kind words about my blog–and I hope my T-Tapp journey encourages you!

      HUGS!

      ~Trisch

  5. Heather Croswhite says:

    Thank you Trisch for your wise words ~ so blessed to “know” you :) After loosing so much weight this past year and now being pregnant, I really want to make this pregnancy a great one . Any wisdom on the pregnancy too would be appreciated :) Blessings ~ Heather

  6. Nicole says:

    I am a frequent visitor at your daughters’ blog and decided to jump over to yours tonight. I have not heard of T-Tapp before and went to their site and reviewed the “Try Before You Buy” section. What has me most interested is your testimonial about the weight loss and inch loss! I am struggling to lose that last 10 lbs (after 4 babies) and have been doing strenuous walks and a 20-min workout video, but have jogged during warmer weather. Nothing is working! Maybe I should give this a try? Sounds interesting as there is no music, which is what we prefer. Thanks for posting!

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