A few weeks ago I had a serious heart-to-heart with myself. At the beginning of every month I try to reflect on the past month, write down who and what what I’m thankful for, establish my goals, etc. but I had really REALLY been slacking on that too. I would have the intention of doing it and then would look at my planner and think, “Eh… I have too many other things to do right now.” What in the heck, Jordan? That’s absolutely ridiculous. That being said, I made it a priority this month to sit down and take some time to reflect.

Maybe you’ve been able to pick up on it but recently I’ve been pretty overwhelmed. I’m at the point where every night before going to bed I say to Stephen, “There aren’t enough hours in the day!” There are so many things that I want to do and not enough time. I know, I know… We don’t have kids yet but that doesn’t mean we aren’t super busy as is and trust me, I’m well aware I choose to live this life! I love it all… The only problem is that I often get too excited and wrapped up in things that I lose sight of my priorities.

I will say outright that I’ve done pretty well at making sleep a priority. That might make you laugh but it is really something that I’m proud of considering where I came from. Stephen and I talk about it from time to time and we still don’t really know how I managed a few years ago… I’d stay up late studying/working every night and get up super early to get more work done. I admire my tenacity back then but when I really look back on that time I was stressed up to my eyeballs, my body was physically exhausted, my skin wasn’t as clear, and I had a sinus infection once every couple of months. It was a recipe for failure.

All I’ll say is this — I get it, trust me of all people I do, that if we aren’t sleeping we can be working BUT I am a firm believer that sleep heals. It heals the body, the brain, and the heart. Once I mentally got into a rhythm of, “Okay, Jordan, physically be in bed by 10:00 PM” a lot of things got better in my little world. Growing up my dad stressed the importance of sleep and would always try to get us in bed by 9:00 PM. I remember him coming into my room almost every single night while I was working at my desk and he’d say, “How much work or studying do you have left?” I’d yell at him, “I don’t know Dad!!!” Did I mentioned I sincerely dislike teenage Jordan? Anyway, “adult” Jordan is really glad my dad forced that on us. My life is so much better because of it. I’m more joyful, I’m less stressed, and I’M RARELY EVER SICK (duh). Stephen now fills the roll of making sure I sleep enough and does a really great job. Probably because he knows four/five hours a night of sleep Jordan vs. seven/eight hours a night of sleep Jordan… 😉

By the way… Just because you sleep seven hours a night doesn’t mean you don’t work hard. Maybe I should say that again… Sleeping seven hours a night does not mean you don’t work hard. I’m tired (no pun intended) of this culture we’ve created in which sleep is for the lazy. What in the heck? Babies aren’t told when they pop out of the womb that they need to sleep. THEY DO IT NATURALLY because once again, sleep heals the body, brain, and the heart. I’m not saying to sleep all night and then nap for three hours every day (I personally wouldn’t get anything done but that’s just me). All I’m saying is this – make sleep a priority.

Now that I’ve made this post all about sleep I’ll get to my point – I realized when I reflected on these past few months that I wasn’t making my health a priority. I hadn’t been eating terribly but I sure as heck wasn’t being as active as I love to be. I decided to metaphorically smack myself in the face a bit and snap out of it. This active habit needs to start NOW because (God willing) life will only get crazier some day with a bigger family and I can’t let a busy life overrule my health not now or then.

Some days I struggle a bit to workout before working on a project around the house after work but overall I’ve made it happen at least 4-5 days out of the week. I’m doing what I feel like doing which right now is running and CrossFit WODs in our garage gym or heck, even in the living room. Whatever I have to do to get a good sweat in.

If this is something you’re struggling with too I encourage you to DO WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY. If you don’t actually like working out but love the feeling afterward well, you’re just going to have to suck it up and do it but it is SO WORTH IT! Along with that, if you “don’t like working out” really consider what you’re doing to be active. Do you just not like it because it makes you work really hard (remember the feeling after!!!)? Because it’s boring? It doesn’t make you feel good before, during or after? Whatever it is, really think about it and then ask yourself, “What would I love doing to be active?” Go for a walk with friends? Try PureBarre? Orange Theory? Throw down in your living room alone with some workout DVDs? This is the time to find what you love! There is SO MUCH out there.

I know, I know. I’m talking a lot (I’m so passionate about this!) and you really just want to see the workouts… Here they are! Like I said, I do these in our garage with our equipment but you could also do these at the local gym, CrossFit gym, etc. You can also modify these pretty easily if you don’t have the correct equipment. They also don’t have to be done in this order… It’s just what I did. You do you.

WOD 1

• 1 mile run warm up

5 rounds for time:

• 20 kettle bell swings
• 20 med ball squats

WOD 2

• 1 mile run warm up

3 rounds for time:

• run 400m
• 21 burpees
• 12 front squats

WOD 3

• 3 mile run

WOD 4 (great one if you’re short on time!)

• 1 mile run

7 min AMRAP:

• 10 DL
• 10 push press

WOD 5

40 – 30 – 20 – 10

• Pushups
• Run 400 m

Complete 40 pushups, run 400 m, complete 30 pushups, run 400 m, etc…

WOD 6

2 rounds:

• 100 double unders
• 50 shoulder to overhead

WOD 7

Rest day

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