family – Beautiful Minds Inspire Others

Sunday Funday. That’s a phrase I hear often and even one I have used myself. I was cleaning out some books yesterday and found one that I had gotten to try to incorporate more Sunday Fundays when the kids were little. As I looked at it, I realized that I didn’t even open it up enough to bend the spine. Last night, I took everyone to a Smokies baseball game. I had the whole thing planned out. It was Christmas in July night, they were giving away snowglobes, you could make ornaments, all the fun. We got there late so didn’t get a snowglobe (mind you, late was still 45 minutes before first pitch), it poured the rain on us, we only saw 1.5 innings of baseball, and there were no fireworks.

I look at both of those things and realize how bummed out I got that it didn’t turn out perfectly for either one. I also look at the fact that we ended up trying a new restaurant and laughing a lot at the game. We did make ornaments, and now we can go today and watch a doubleheader because our tickets are honored for that game since it rained so much and we saw so little baseball.

It seems like we all put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have the perfect Sunday fundays or the perfect experiences for our families, especially when our kids are little. What I have realized throughout the years is that it wasn’t the big things that made the difference. Sure, my kids have loved the Disney trips, but they’ve also loved the impromptu picnics or cooking dinner at the firehall. The random trips to Chattanooga to go to the children’s museum and the random movie nights at the house. They’ve even enjoyed the nights we just didn’t do anything “special” besides have dinner together.

Why do we continue to put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to do more and to do it perfectly? It almost never ends up going as planned and then it can cause a spiral into a place where we just don’t feel like anything we do is good enough for our family. The birthday parties aren’t big enough, the gifts aren’t extravagant enough, the trips aren’t special enough, when in actuality what makes it all special is the time we spend together and focusing on each other.

Sunday funday today is going to be a lot of baseball, but most Sundays it is a lot of rest. It’s eating together, going to the grocery store together, maybe watching a movie together or maybe everyone going their separate ways. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself for it to all look perfect and start enjoying the small mundane things that make up our lives. Instead of planning the perfect outing for the day, jump in the car, turn on a fun playlist and sing together or have a great conversation while you just drive.

Enjoy each other today, regardless of how that looks.

Yes, I know, it has been forever. You know what they say about best laid plans and good intentions. Anyway, I’m back. And there have been lots of changes happening around here. In December, I was named as the Director of the program that I had been the coordinator of, I decided to do a second edition of the textbook, I am working on the Perfect Chaos book, I’ve decided to write a book about going through bariatric surgery (the mental side of it), the kids have stayed busy, David got appointed to the state board of EMS and a national board, Summitt finished her therapy dog stuff and got approved for that, 120 pounds has dropped from my body, I had gallbladder surgery and I honestly don’t even remember what else has happened. I’ve done better about meal planning every week, but if I forget to do it or get busy, it seems like our whole week is shot.

There it is. The pictures I haven’t felt like I should post because a lot of days I don’t see the difference. It’s a weird space to be in when you know there is a difference, but you can’t necessarily see it. Overall, since my first doctor’s appointment to start the process of gastric bypass on April 28th, I am down 121 lbs. I am right at 5.5 lbs. away from being in “Onederland” (which I still have a hard time believing). I’ve set my reward for when I finally get to that fabled place of a weight that starts with a 1. I’m going to order myself a Wolfpak backpack for the gym. The outfit I have on in the March 2024 picture was what I rewarded myself with when I hit 100 lbs. lost. The weird thing (other than not seeing the difference some days) is that I still have clothes that I wore over 120lbs. ago that I wear now. It’s a struggle on most days to determine what to wear. Then I find new things that I never thought I would be able to wear and get super excited. I may or may not have cried when I was able to buy a pair of Crown and Ivy shorts in a size 14.

Even weirder is that I still am terrified that this isn’t going to work. That at some point, I will wake up and this increased energy and mobility is going to have gone away. That the weight is going to come back with a vengeance. That I will stop feeling like I am almost cute. I am back to eating what I want, just in much smaller quantities. I still track what I eat. I am always thinking about what is the best decision for the moment that I am in and learning to not give myself a hard time if the best decision at the moment isn’t the best decision in the world but it is what I can do now. I’m still losing weight. It is just mentally a weird spot to be in and a weird way to think. My biggest fear right now is that it won’t continue. Not that I want to lose weight forever. That isn’t a thing, but that thought that it will stop and I will balloon back up is constantly in my mind. I’m not sure if it will always be there, but it is there now.

I guess that is really the big update. I’m going to do better about getting updates out there, both on here and on the Perfect Chaos website. I know, you’ve heard that before, but my goal for this summer is to really get myself in a good place with habits and schedules to better balance out what I am doing. Until next time…

Tag: family

Sunday Funday … or is it?

It’s Been a While