FLY: Finally Loving Yourself

“She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls. She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness.” (Proverbs 31:15,27 NLT)

Those of you who have been reading my site regularly probably have gathered that I am a flylady fan. “FLY,” by the way, stands for Finally Loving Yourself. This site is full of so much to help you get your whole life organized, ordered, decluttered, and peaceful. Yet she breaks everything into simple baby steps. I am what she calls a “fly baby”. She believes, as I do, that we have to bring order, and balance to body, soul, and spirit.

One of the first baby steps is to “get dressed to your shoes everyday”. (Please click on and read this link, it is short but important as to why getting yourself dressed is key!) I had already started doing this before I even found flylady. It makes a big difference in your day. Even if you are going nowhere, you still need to get up, take a shower, fix your hair, and put on your clothes to your shoes. If you need an extra pick me up, put on your jewelry and your makeup. This is not about anyone but you, showing yourself that you are important enough to take time for you. If you are the only person that sees you today, don’t you want to be left with a good impression of you?!

I start my day with a morning routine. This has become so important to me, that I want to do it even on the weekends. Why? Because it is my time, my time to myself, my time with God! I get up about an hour and a half before the rest of my family. Yes, this means about 5-5:30 every morning. If I were working a job outside of the home, I would care about the way others saw me enough to make time to put myself together. Well, I care enough about the way I, as well as my children and husband, see me to make time to put myself together. This only takes about 20-30 minutes including my shower and fixing my hair. However, there is more to my time in the mornings. Here is what it looks like:

5 am- hit the snooze 2 or 3 times 😉
5:30 am- actually get up and take my shower, get dressed and fix my hair.
6 am- Start the coffee. (While I wait for it, I unload the dishwasher, now it is empty and ready for breakfast dishes)
6:15- Coffee, devotional, prayer, and/or read my current book
6:45 – I get on the computer, write and post my blog, check my email, and bank account.
7:15 or 7:30- I get my girls and hubby up for breakfast, and the craziness starts!

I cannot begin to tell you how much implementing just these two things has done for me. My entire day goes smoother, and I am a much happier mommy to my kids. I probably would not be able to do this blog if I did not have this time. My self esteem is different. My morning is not as chaotic, because I can give my girls and my husband my undivided attention. I am ready for the day physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

I challenge you to do this for yourself, for 30 days straight (weekends too)! Wait ’til you see how much better Sunday mornings are when you are dressed and ready before anyone else gets up!) You may not have to get up an hour and a half early, you may not blog and such. But even to have 30 minutes to get yourself ready and 15-20 minutes of quiet time to order your day, I promise at the end of thirty days you will feel like your whole life is different. And I want to know about it!

I want you to know that I get nothing for supporting flylady’s site or concepts. She has no idea who I am! I just want to share this because it has changed my life so much!