WR... With a puppy!
Three children, two businesses, and a puppy. It’s no secret why I started Women Run. I am a life long runner and a multi-tasking mom always on the verge of insanity and chaos who thought there must be other women out there who felt similarly. I saw it as a great product based business opportunity. In reality, what Women Run has become is much more of a support group for women who run and run and run! We’re all crazy (the good crazy of course!) but we all take on too much and feel the need to do everything ourselves and just simply do everything!
As I meet many of you and hear your stories, I realize how our lives parallel and we all need some comic relief, encouragement and inspiration to keep us moving forward no matter what has been put on our plate. Many of us have too much on our plates and we try to maintain our sanity any way that we can. Sometimes we need a new perspective, a pep talk to keep you doing what you want to do and have to do. That’s what Women Run is. But, we will also encourage you to take a look at the things that aren’t working or aren’t really necessary and take them off your plate so you can keep running and more importantly, take time for yourself.
Guilt rules many of our lives and we think we are being selfish when we do something for ourselves. To say we want or need something makes us vulnerable or weak. Oh contraire mon fraire! When we put ourselves first and take care of us, we do a much better job taking care of everyone else. That girls night you keep putting off? Well, it will do you a world of good. That extra long run you need desperately but can’t fit in because you are just too busy? That hair appointment to cover your grays or have your toes done by a professional? Not one bit selfish. This is self preservation and we call them mini vacations. A week in the Bahamas would be lovely, but sometimes all we need to recharge is a long shower with no children calling our name, a lunch date with an old friend, a morning walk with a girlfriend who needs a break from the crazy that has become her reality. We’ve all been there, we will all be there, but if you learn to put yourself first in a few small ways it makes it easier to cope, to deal with and not run away from the crazy. Identify the things that make your life chaotic and change them, deal with them, or simply walk away from them. I know that word simply is not simple, but trust me…do the necessary work to re-organize or restructure and you will be amazed at the balance, the ease with which you can work mini vacations into your daily run, and the calmness it brings to your life.
My own story is ever evolving and slightly complicated so when I say “we shoulder your pain and are here for you”, trust me, it’s genuine! Many of you know I run Women Run and I also run my own interior design firm. I have three children in three different school with three different schedules. This past year my husband and business partner of many many years and I decided to consciously uncouple (thank you Gwyneth Paltrow for that term) and now I am running my household single handedly. Last week my youngest daughter turned 10. A decade! I wanted to celebrate double digits and be the coolest mom ever by renting a water slide for her birthday party. Who could top that? Well, her dad brought home a three month old puppy and clearly the “who’s the cooler parent” competition has begun! Gulp. A puppy? I don’t even like dogs and his rental doesn’t allow dogs…so where will the puppy live? Well, needless to say…the puppy is fast asleep at my feet as I write this. We spend the first few hours of every day together before the rest of the house wakes up. I am already in love and have welcomed the joy and structure she has brought into our lives! Not one pair of shoes can be seen in my house. For fifteen years I have been trying to train my children to put their shoes in the closet when they walk in the door, but after 6 hours of watching their shoes be chewed to pieces, the puppy has trained them to put their shoes away! It’s also brought the teenager out of her bedroom. She spends more time with the family and the puppy. Me, a dog person…I never could have predicted this one. Just when I didn’t think I could put one more thing on my plate. But that means something else will have to be taken off my plate to make room. Maybe cooking and cleaning can take a back seat for now. ;)
-Kyra
(Sorelle 10, Alta 3 months, Camden 12, and Emerson 15)