You’re exhausted from the tumultuous day. Your day started out just like any other one- showering, waking up the kids, getting breakfast and lunch ready for the family, shoving breakfast in your mouth as you raise your voice for the third time telling the kids to get into the car as they will be late to school, and getting yourself into the office, only 5 minutes late this time, not too bad. At the office the day is anything like you would expect, your first e-mail of the day is not good and it goes down from there. You skip lunch, again, as you have meeting after meeting and cannot get a minute to yourself. You cannot wait to leave the office and finally 6pm rolls around. You’re excited to get home to give your family a hug, and sit down to a wonderful dinner. Then you think, “Uh-oh I didn’t exercise. Gosh, I’m exhausted and just want to relax.” But the guilt sweeps you over and you think, “Ok, I will exercise. I will eat dinner with the family and go for a quick run, they will not mind so much.” However, when you get home and tell your family your plan for exercising, your family has different thoughts and they do not want you to leave for that run. So, you start thinking one day without exercise is not so bad, but then you missed 2 days this week due to late-night events at your work and the kids’ school. Ugh if there were only 2 of you, then you would be able to accomplish everything without breaking a sweat. But wait, there is an idea, one so genius it may just work. You propose to your family, “Why don’t we all go for a run?” They first look at you like you are from a different world, but then one of your children says, “Sure Mom, that sounds like a fun idea. What a great way to spend family time.” You leap for joy inside your mind and you’re pretty sure you let out a little yip. You finally figured out how to do it all by incorporating your family in a healthy, fun way.

The moral of this story- exercise can fit into your busy life with a little bit of creativity