Happy New Year!
I hope you all have had a simply marvelous holiday break! We are getting back into our normal routine slowly. Bob and I are back to work - Boo! - (actually Bob never really stopped...) and the little boys are back to school, but the big boys are off until next Tuesday. So we won't resume our normal, normal routine until next week. (And let me just tell you how irritating it is to get ready for work while there are pajama wearing loungers in the house!!)
So this is the time of year when everyone makes New Year's resolutions. Honestly, I'm not much of a resolution maker. I believe that self-reflection and self-improvement are too important to schedule only once a year. I think it's actually much more successful to regularly (as in daily!) look at what's happening and see if there are ways to be better. (Hint, there are always ways to be better!)
The thing about not making resolutions is that come New Years Day I feel like I'm missing out on part of the holiday. So this year I decided to make a resolution. It is this:
I will hug more!
Probably not something that is going to show up on most people's list of resolutions, but this is on mine. It's not random either... I decided to make an effort to incorporate more physical contact into my daily life because of a couple of things I've read recently. (Aside, I really love that Facebook lets you share articles and I've found some really great things that my friends have shared.)
One article talked about how important it is for moms of boys to show their sons affection. When I think about this, it becomes super important to me. I want my boys to know that it's OK to share their personal space with the people they love. I want them to feel safe and know that my arms will always open to them. Even when they open their arms just to lift me up in a testosterone-induced need to demonstrate their strength. (Yes, Spencer can and does lift me and carry me around and then laughs maniacally about the fact that he's almost bigger than me.) Here's the article that I first read about hugging your boys, but there are lots more out there - http://butterflywriterblog.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/17-things-boys-need-from-their-moms/
The thing I read about hugging pointed out how a simple hug is remarkably effective at reducing stress. (Here are 2 articles about the subject - http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/features/6-surprising-stress-fixes and http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-a-hug-can-boost-memory-reduce-stress-1791770.) I don't, in general, feel overly stressed, but why not take advantage of this easy and free stress-reducer???
This year I'll be hugging it out - what about you?
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