Working Mom's Balance

Working Mom's Balance I empower people to use their God-given gifts to live a life of meaning and purpose.

We discuss overall well-being and mindset through positive psychology topics, spiritual, mental, and physical health, time management and organization, and relationships.

� Links for the most popular things I talk about
www.workingmomsbalance.com/instalinks

Drove to Cincinnati, spent all my money at the expo, ate a delicious steak dinner, now it’s 4am and my friends tell me i...
05/05/2024

Drove to Cincinnati, spent all my money at the expo, ate a delicious steak dinner, now it’s 4am and my friends tell me it’s time to run a bunch of miles and call it fun. 😴😍🏃🏼‍♀️ Let’s do this.

(Gloved) high fives to everyone still getting your training runs in this weekend even though the weather feels awful wi...
04/20/2024

(Gloved) high fives to everyone still getting your training runs in this weekend even though the weather feels awful wintery for late April. I know it’s northern Indiana but I’m more than ready to put away the gloves and ear warmers!

At what temperature do you go without gloves and ear coverings?

Totality or bust was a success. So cool! Drove for hours to see two minutes of sudden darkness.
04/08/2024

Totality or bust was a success. So cool! Drove for hours to see two minutes of sudden darkness.

I’m in a very busy work season right now that is consuming a lot of energy and capacity. So much of it is really great m...
03/16/2024

I’m in a very busy work season right now that is consuming a lot of energy and capacity. So much of it is really great meaningful work that I love doing. But also, your girl is Tired, with that capital t there on purpose. 😴

My schedule might have indicated that running a race this month was too much. But I read a quote recently that said “you live and run on two different batteries” and that is 💯 my motto these days.

An hour of sunshine on my face, exploring a different city, and catching up with friends is exactly what my life battery needed this morning to help recharge just enough to keep me going. I see a light at the end of my very busy season tunnel (some time in April 🤞), but for today I’m really glad I took the opportunity to go play with friends this morning. 💖

Most people who know anything about my little running addiction know that in addition to being able to talk about runnin...
01/21/2024

Most people who know anything about my little running addiction know that in addition to being able to talk about running every single day for 3,163 days, I also proudly share that nearly all of those runs have happened outside. I’ll run anywhere in any weather, but please don’t make me run on a treadmill. Until…

My husband moved a tv in front of the treadmill in our basement a few weeks back and I decided to give it a try. So now I must admit that I’ve spent 14 of the 20 days so far this year running on a treadmill instead of running outside. 😲🫣🤯

Who knew that binge watching TV while running could be a new addiction? I didn’t actually mean to go on such a long streak of treadmill runs but winter came back with a vengeance of frigidity right when I was planning to go back outside and inside my warm basement sounded better than dark and -10°.

I’m kind of struggling with my feelings about winter this year. I’ve always hated snow and cold. But my run streak actually helped me appreciate this least favorite season of mine a bit more in the past. Maybe after nine winters the excitement for running while my face freezes off is wearing thin. Maybe I just need to suck it up a few more days and get used to it again. Maybe I need to spend more time in front of my happy light. Or maybe I need a tropical vacation. Better yet, can we move my family, friends, my kids’ schools, and Notre Dame somewhere where it doesn’t hurt your face to walk outside?

I’ve been back to running outside for the past three days. The roads are trash because we live in a snow globe so I have to go to work even on my days off so I can find clear paths to run on. But once my face and hands warmed up today I didn’t hate it and I didn’t miss Netflix at all. Until my watch notified me that it was sunset and I grumbled about darkness descending at such a ridiculously early hour. But hey, baby steps, the light is returning, and we’re already a month into winter. The sun and warmth will return soon enough.

For now, maybe I’ll be outside or maybe I’ll be on the indoor track or maybe I’ll be on the treadmill. But definitely I will still be running. (And dreaming of the beach.) That’s just what I do.

Most people know all about my addiction to running, but I’m also mildly addicted to reading. I rarely watch TV or movies...
01/01/2024

Most people know all about my addiction to running, but I’m also mildly addicted to reading. I rarely watch TV or movies (feel free to call me crazy or boring, wouldn’t be the first). My love for reading is longer lasting and possibly stronger than my love of running, but I have to work to tame this addiction because I haven’t yet learned how to live a fully meaningful (and well-paid) life that involves all reading all the time.

2023 reading stats:
📚 59 books read (goal of 55; I intentionally don’t go over much because I need boundaries)
📚 17,968 pages
📚 Longest book read - The Evening and Morning; 926 pages (Ken Follett books are so long!)
📚 Shortest book read - The Family Board Room Meetings; 83 pages (we implemented something like what this book describes and I highly recommend)
📚 Book that took the longest time to read - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; over 14 months (my kids are obsessed, turns out, I am not)

I intentionally started to broaden my non-fiction reading this year, so now I have a quarterly goal to read at least one book from each of these categories:
📘 Biography/Memoir
📘 Social Justice
📘 Parenting/Marriage
📘 Running
📘 Coaching/Positive Psychology
📘 Business/Leadership
📘 Spiritual
📘 Financial

I’m hoping to come up with similar categories for my fiction reading as well because usually fiction for me is all the romance, and well, there’s more to life than romance it seems.

What were your favorite reads this past year? What should I add to my for 2024? If you picked fiction categories to make sure you read a broad range of books, what would those categories be for you?

Peace out 2023!I went out this afternoon ❄️ for a bit of a long run to round out my monthly mileage to 70 miles in Decem...
12/31/2023

Peace out 2023!

I went out this afternoon ❄️ for a bit of a long run to round out my monthly mileage to 70 miles in December. Equivalent to my November mileage, but 12 minutes faster. 🤩

2023 running stats:
💖 812.82 total miles
💖 Hit 3,000 days and 8 year milestones on my
💖 Ran 6 half marathons, 1 trail Ragnar, 2 10ks, and 2 5ks
💖 Ran over 30 miles (Ragnar and half marathon) immediately after (or potentially with) the Rona
💖 Ran in 7 new states (bringing the total to 19/51 - DC is a state, didn’t you know 😉)
💖 Started strength training on a slightly regular basis to help bring a little more balance to my fitness (and maybe speed to my runs)

It’s been a great year! I’m looking forward to what 2024 has in store. I’m thinking a few shorter races (but still plenty of halves), more strength to get a tiny bit speedier, and most importantly seeing all the new places I can explore on my own two feet! Hopefully I’ll add a new country or two and maybe a couple new states as well.

🏃🏼‍♀️Cheers to everyone who has cheered me on, supported me, and inspired me to keep on lacing up and heading out each and every day!

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎄🎄May the joy of Love fill you with hope and peace this day and in the year to come. May we remember t...
12/25/2023

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎄🎄

May the joy of Love fill you with hope and peace this day and in the year to come. May we remember the gift of a small baby who came to show this broken world the way of love and goodness. May the spirit of Christmas inspire us to spread the Kingdom of Love everywhere we go. And may grace and peace be with you.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve…Tracy went for a run, the same as she’s done every day for 8 years and 7 months now! 😂Didn’...
12/25/2023

Then one foggy Christmas Eve…Tracy went for a run, the same as she’s done every day for 8 years and 7 months now! 😂

Didn’t realize that today was a mini milestone day. Holidays, foggy days, Sundays, doesn’t matter. No days off, because I can, and that is a beautiful gift.

I’ve gone for a run every single day for 8 years, 3 months, and 18 days. In all of those days I’ve never discovered some...
09/12/2023

I’ve gone for a run every single day for 8 years, 3 months, and 18 days. In all of those days I’ve never discovered some secret source of motivation that helps me lace up my shoes and get out the door each day. That’s not how it works. I rarely “feel” like running. I just show up and do it anyway, no matter how I’m feeling. Once I start, then I might begin feeling motivated to keep going…sometimes. But most of the time, you just suck it up, buttercup because short term discomfort is worth long term massive achievement and success.

I’ll hit a big milestone on my run streak next week (3,000 days) which has me doing a lot of reflecting.I’m not a fast r...
07/28/2023

I’ll hit a big milestone on my run streak next week (3,000 days) which has me doing a lot of reflecting.

I’m not a fast runner and I have no desire to be. I run long distances, but many people run much longer. I run a lot of miles each month compared to some people, but most of my running friends run more.

My definition of success looks vastly different from other people. We all have different goals and priorities. When we look outward for clues on how well we are doing we can often feel like a giant failure, because our results and achievements don’t look like someone else’s.

When setting goals and deciding on the type of life you want to live and the things you want to pursue, it’s fine to look to others for ideas and inspiration. But what’s most important is to look inside your own self. How do you want to show up in your one beautiful life? What achievements would feel good for you to accomplish? What brings you joy? What’s important to you? What is your why? Who do you want to be? How do you define success?

Comparison really is the thief of joy. The only person you need to compete with is yourself. You showing up as the best, most joyful version of yourself will inspire others to bring themselves up right along with you, in their own unique way. And that, is how we create a more beautiful world.

Sometimes life throws us curveballs where the unknown can be frightening. Our brain is always on the hunt for danger and...
07/27/2023

Sometimes life throws us curveballs where the unknown can be frightening. Our brain is always on the hunt for danger and risk so it’s really easy to jump to worst case scenarios and spiral into negativity. But this kind of thinking is not exactly helpful.

This process can help you expand your thinking and create the best plan for moving forward with the information you currently have.

Allow yourself to think about the worst case scenario, but don’t stop there. Expansive thinking is helpful thinking.

What areas of life do you most struggle with catastrophizing your thoughts?

Address

Nappanee, IN
46550

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Working Mom's Balance posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category