How We Roll: Coach Samantha Ray

The past couple months I’ve been contemplating my priorities and their impact on how my time’s being spent.  It’s been an interesting process and one that is still evolving.  One profound realization in the past busy holiday month, while opening a new business (Genesis Kitchen), is that my self care HAS to be a priority, there is no other way for me to thrive.  It’s apparent that if I’m not making me priority #1 that I’m not my best self, mother, coach, or business partner.  Making me a priority sometimes feels challenging being an owner of two successful businesses and a single mom.  I have two different schedules:  50% of the time I’m a single mom and 50% of the time I’m a single woman without the responsibilities of two children.  This means my schedule and priorities can vary from day to day.  Given that there are many busy mom’s out there my “how I roll” this month is a day in my life as a single mother.  Us mothers know kids are work, so how do we take care of ourselves when we’re responsible for taking care of other little beings?

Monday morning:

630am:  Have a 16oz glass of water, take deep breaths, and take a moment for gratitude.  Get my kids up and facilitate them getting ready for school (can be a struggle on a Monday morning!).  I make them breakfast and feed myself scrambled eggs, spinach, avocado, and a cup of coffee.  Pack my clothes and prepare snack for my morning gym session.

745am:  We leave for school, pick up carpool kids and head for our 35min commute to school.

9am:  Arrive at gym with my liter of water and a thermos of yogi tea.  Warm up for 10 minutes and then 50 minutes of strength training.  Today I focus on legs, abs, and chest exercises.  Easy to drink a liter of water when working out!  (Priority #1 – self care)

1030am – arrive back home and eat after gym snack of chia seeds (soaked in water) with Sun Warrior Rice protein and 2 TBS of raspberries.

1045am – meditation time – yippee! – 30 minutes of sitting solely with me. (Priority #1 – self care)

1130am – catch up on emails and computer work w/a 16oz glass of water and cup of yogi tea w/fresh hemp milk & stevia.

1pm – take a half hour break to pee, drink another 16oz water, throw in a load of laundry, clean up kitchen from this mornings preparations, and make a snack.

130pm – 2 squash protein bars dipped in blood orange olive oil.  YUM!  Sit and write in my journal for 15 minutes because my head is spinning with my long ‘to do’ list.  I reflect on my list and prioritize what needs done now and what can wait.

145pm – back to computer work w/another 16oz water.

245pm – prepare to run errands (grocery shopping, bank, post office, etc.) in town for an hour before picking up kids.  This includes bringing 1 liter of water with me.

345pm – pick up kids from carpool.

415pm – arrive home, unpack kids/groceries and continue tasks (kids after school snack, my snack, make/pack school lunches, prepare dinner).  I enjoy hearing about my kids school day and work on staying present with them while multi-tasking and playing referee (2 boys!).   I take bites of some salad w/avocado, cinnamon pear balsamic & blood orange olive oil, and 2 oz of leftover hamburger while standing and continuing to multi-task.

515pm – get dinner in the oven on timed bake.  Prepare my kids that their mom is working tonight for about 1 hour and they’ll need to be occupy themselves by watching TV.  They’re thrilled because I normally reserve TV for weekends in our house.

530pm – work conference call for 1 hour.  Bring water and tea with me while I hideout in my bedroom.  Slightly distracted once because I hear an argument break out upstairs and then get interrupted with a whispered question (this is against our agreement so will require follow up later!).  Luckily easily resolved and quiet again, I return to being fully present on my call.

7pm – Call went longer than expected and when I exit my bedroom, the kitchen is full of smoke (oil was spattering in oven)!  The fire alarms start going off, kids are totally wound up from being plugged in, and we’re all starving and tired.  I open all the doors and windows, get the ladder to turn off fire alarms, and pull dinner out of the oven.  I take many deep breaths, get teary, and work on shifting my negative mind to seeing this as a great opportunity to further develop my ‘Elegant Thinking’.  Thank goodness dinner is still good (salad w/avocado, tuscan herb roasted chicken and veges (carrots, brussel sprouts, and onions) with homemade mayo.

730pm – sit down for dinner (45minutes later than planned) and keep working with my thinking.  Kids are still being crazy and I want to yell at them, but I don’t.  I recognize that they’re tired, hungry, and jacked up from electronics (I’m sure you other mothers can relate).

8pm – finish dinner, clean up, prepare and organize myself/food for a full day with clients tomorrow, facilitate boys getting ready for tomorrow’s school day, chores, and bed.

915pm – get boys in bed.  Whew!  Wash face and get myself ready for bed.

930pm – One of my sons can’t sleep and comes into my room.  I tuck him into my bed with his cat and make another cup of yogi tea.  I drink my tea in bed and look over some notes.  My son keeps babbling so I turn off my head lamp and lay next to him.  He keeps jabbering and says, “How come you’re always so quiet at night mom when I like to talk a lot at night?”  I respond, “I think most people are quiet at night because they’re going to sleep.”  He very perplexed answers, “Oh” and keeps talking…..I say, “sshhh” and we fall asleep around 10pm.  Gratitude for my incredibly fortunate life and my sweet children is what I’m reflecting on as my next self priority comes into fruition…..SLEEP.