Today was a first, People. A rather momentous one at that.

I made it 41 minutes on my walk with Murph and decided to call it. This is no easy thing for a Total Taurus. We’re equipped with an unruly determination to make it, at all costs. Consistency is our strong point. When I say I walk at least an hour everyday, followed by a minimum of 40 minutes of yoga, plus rotating kettlebell or some strength training, I mean it.

As soon as I walked in the door, I had to lay down. My heart was pounding wildly and my legs had that dead, lethargic feel. After a few minutes on the couch, I forced myself up to do yoga but again, stopped. 18 minutes. I declared it an all new low.

Until I quickly decided to call it an all new high. I’ve pushed and pushed and pushed myself this entire pregnancy so far. I haven’t had one day where I didn’t workout. I’m sure that’s one reason, along with having yet to really increase my caloric intake, that I had {and sometimes still do} such extreme fatigue.

Please note — I’m not and have not deprived myself of food. My appetite has either been non existent or the same. Trust me — when I’m hungry, I eat. I can’t not. It’s strange, too, being preg … when the hunger strikes, there can be no waiting. It’s this insane necessity that hits me that I must eat NOW.

This afternoon, I finally accepted that I need to listen to my body. I still had a good walk, I still got in some yoga. I need to focus less on setting these high goals of must do one hour and instead honor where I am.

It’s a hard thing for me, because up until today, I somehow felt that me giving in was failing. When in actuality, I was just looking at it all wrong.

Giving in to what we truly need is a wonderful gift. It means we’re in tune with ourselves, we’re listening. I’ve wanted to believe that I can keep my exact same pace and routine throughout pregnancy, but that’s not always realistic. Hell, it’s not realistic non-preg. Life is life, we all have our good days and our not so good days.

I want to be proud that I’m just staying active. And throw out my own made up terms and conditions. Give in more to what my true needs are. If that means less time pounding the pavement, so be it.