I love this quote by Wayne Dyer. I was sad to learn of his passing last week and thought it was only fitting to tie his amazing inspiration into my blog.

One of the things that intrigues me as a parent is how much we are willing to spend on our children compared to what we spend on ourselves. It should not surprise me at all. I know my own parents spent far more on my brother and myself growing up than they were spending on themselves at that time. We as parents are generally willing to sacrifice things to make our kids’ lives better. I am talking about investing in sports, club sports, tutors, music lessons, after school enrichment, etc. We are willing to sacrifice for the investment in helping our kids be successful. OK, yes, you got me, I have been reading Julie Lythcott-Haims book, How to Raise and Adult and attending a few of her talks in the last couple of weeks. If you have not read the book or heard her speak, I highly recommend either or both. She also has a couple of excellent TED talks available online.

 

I am not suggesting that anyone should not invest in their children. Trust me, with four kids, we are investing far more in our children than we are spending on ourselves. What I do want you to think about is what investments do you need to make in yourself for YOU to be more successful, healthy, happy, fulfilled, or enriched? Sometimes, we are just so busy investing in our children that we lose sight of the value that comes in investing in ourselves! I remember one of my first blogs was all about Christine Carter’s quote, “put your own oxygen mask on first.” We must take care of ourselves in order to take care of others. There is a lot of research documenting that depressed parents are more likely to raise depressed children. Another blog I wrote was on epigenetics and the research that shows by changing your own behaviors and beliefs, you can change your DNA. You can change your own destiny and the destiny of your children and future generations by changing YOUR habits, beliefs, and behaviors.

 

There are many categories of health – mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, environmental, and occupational are the main ones that come to mind. Are there any categories that you need to improve upon in your own life? It is important to realize that If we are nourished, energized, and fulfilled, we stand a much better chance of our kids following in our footsteps and continuing on that path. We are doing far more than setting an example, we are living proof that we are worthy of taking care of ourselves and so are they. We can spend all the money in the world trying to manufacture success, but real success comes from within, it comes from a desire, will, hunger, or passion. Manufactured success often leaves an emptiness to the soul that does more harm than good. I hope you will consider investing in your own health in some way this week. Do you need to go for a walk or run while your kid is playing their soccer game instead of sitting in the stands? Do you need to have your kids make their own lunch in the morning so you can free up some mental time for yourself? Do you need to overhaul your healthy habits even though it might temporarily inconvenience your family? Have you always wanted to learn how to play piano? You get the idea.

 

Thursday, 9am class will be back in action this week. We are now meeting at the Stanford Track at the corner of Galvez and Campus Drive. You do need to purchase a parking pass for the visitor spaces. Campus police do ticket and the tickets are steep, so don’t forget to pay to park. The W/F 9am classes and T/TH 6am classes are on as scheduled. I hope to see you all this week!!!

 

Cheers!

Stella