It’s January and like most of my formative years, I’ve made a resolution to become healthier! I don’t know how many years you can blame your weight on your pregnancies, but since my youngest are now six years old, I feel like I might be getting to that cut-off point. And if I’m being really honest, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with food and exercise. I love food and my body hates to exercise, plain and simple. As I was discussing this with my girlfriend Laura, she gave me a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. Join the gym, so you can take a nap!

Folks, I have a lot of brilliant friends, but Laura may just be a certified genius with this idea. Not only is it a great idea, but Laura has actually gone to the gym to take a nap. Let me start from the beginning.  My friend Laura is a nurse and has three young children. She works two nights a week and her husband works full-time as well. On Sunday and Tuesday nights, Laura goes to work a twelve-hour nursing shift and then comes home just as her husband Mark is leaving for work. She typically hires a babysitter to come take care of her children for two-to-four hours so she can catch up on some of the sleep she missed as a night nurse. On one particular week, Laura’s babysitters could not help. So, Laura, being the genius that she is, got her kids dressed, put on work-out clothes, and headed to the gym for free child care with paid membership. She dropped her three precious kiddos off at the nursery and walked straight out the door to her minivan where she had brought a pillow and blanket. Laura napped in her car for a couple of hours and her kids had a blast at the gym nursery. If that is not a mom win, I don’t know what is!

So this New Year, I plan on working hard to become a better version of myself. I think as moms we take care of everyone else and typically put ourselves and our health last on the to-do list. I’m going to make this a priority this year, and I’m already off to a positive start. I’m going to go to my Jazzercise classes (which I actually enjoy once I get there) and rock this New Year thing! And if all else fails with my workout plans, I’ll at least be able to go to the gym to take a nap!