Hello, all! Since this is my first official post on bethanypetty.com, I thought I’d take just a few lines of this post to introduce myself and give you a glimpse into my hectic teacher-mom life, which will hopefully illuminate the why of this post.
My name is Bethany Petty (hi, Bethany!). I’m a high school Social Studies teacher by day, tackling American Government, dual credit Western Civilizations, dual credit American History I & 2, and dual credit American Political Systems, as well as leading my department, and an adjunct instructor of educational technology. I write a blog, Teaching with Technology, in which I share tips, strategies, and reflections from my classroom. I’m also the author of Illuminate: Technology Enhanced Learning which was published in May of 2018. Most importantly, I’m Mommy to two little girls and wife to a pretty cool husband. I love to read, run, workout, shop, watch Outlander and Harry Potter, and take lots of naps. I spend my afternoons, evenings, and weekends driving my kids all over God’s creation to ballet, tap, jazz, basketball, soccer, and piano lessons. You can say that I’m a busy gal. Which brings me to the reason for this post …
I’m often asked at conferences or workshops I present at around the region (soon to be around the country!) how I balance all of the craziness that is my life. (I forgot to mention that my husband is a sales and finance manager at a car dealership, which means we really never know when he’s coming home in the evenings!) My typical answer to this question is, “God and coffee; in that order and a whole lot of both.”
While this is 100% true (I feel like I’m in a constant convo with God throughout the day, saying things like “please help me take a deep breath so I don’t have a total freakout,” and I seriously drink about 7 cups of coffee each day), it’s not the only way I tackle the incredible challenge of attempting to balance my hectic and extremely blessed life.
How else, you ask?
EXERCISE. Holy moly. What did I do before I started running? How did I not completely lose my mind between the stresses of full-time teaching and much more importantly, having an awesome marriage while raising two fabulous daughters?
My husband knows me so well – when it seems as though Mommy has had a bit much and is on edge, he very nicely asks which workout I did today … running or a Beachbody workout. If I say that I haven’t gotten a workout in yet, he calmly suggests that I go down to our basement and spend a bit of time sweating out my stress. It’s fantastic 🙂
I’m just finishing the Transform 20 program from Shaun T and it has been FABULOUS. The workouts are only 20 minutes per day, 6 days a week and are super intense. I find myself repeating over and over in my head, “this is only 20 minutes. You can do this. You grew and gave birth to two humans. You have this in the bag.” Even though it’s only 20 minutes, I’ve had great results that include toning up AND decreasing my three mile run time which has probably been the most exciting part of the program for me! I love running – I throw on Outlander on my iPhone or iPad while I’m running, my kids play or watch a movie in the basement so they’re right there with me – but it’s historically not been great for my body. I have crummy knees – I’ll blame that on 10 years of volleyball! – and I’m prone to shin splints. Oh, and I also have exercise-induced asthma. So why in the world do I love to run?! I like proving to myself that I can overcome obstacles and push myself to be the best version of me. And somehow, pushing myself to the point of physical exhaustion, dripping in sweat and torching calories is the most relaxing part of my day – ha!
But seriously, how do you balance and juggle all of the balls you have in your life? How do you keep from dropping them, and how do you respond when you do drop one?
I’m super pumped to be starting a new book, in addition to the Outlander book I’m reading, of course (I may be a tad obsessed!), called 100 Days to Brave. (Affilate Link) I’ve heard so many great things about this personal development/devotional and I can’t wait to dive in. Check back soon for reflections 🙂
Thanks so much for reading!
**This post may contain affliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase a product through my link. Thanks for your support!**
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