Balance

Finding balance can be hard. No, I don't mean standing on one foot, though that can be hard too, especially with bags of groceries and children in your arms, toys and pets underfoot and your eye on the clock.

I'm talking about the balance between work/life/family. That magic balance I doubt many people can achieve. I won't lie: I struggle with it daily and I'm losing the battle.

I had a prof recently who had a suggested balance of the numbers. It was something like 1/3 work, 1/3 family and friends and 1/3 of "you" time. (I still don't know when I am supposed to fit chores in there.) This "you" category is time when it is just you and your thoughts. I wanted to burst out laughing when I heard this since Oliver was about four months old at the time. This meant a) there was never time when I was truly alone and b) work and family fell in the same category.

Working from home I still find I can't achieve that balance of work and family since it all takes place in the same location. It's getting better, and I've started to have that "me" time now and again (thanks to hubby for taking Oliver out for a walk while I had a short bath last night). I suspect it is a work in progress for everyone.

On the same note of balancing, I am finding that as I get older (I know, a whooping 26 years of age, insert jokes here) I have less time for some people. I have time for the people I really care about... you know, the friends you really click with, the family you truly feel bonded to... but the people you get together with out of a sense of obligation or guilt, the ones you hang out with because, well, you just always have... I just don't want to do it anymore. There's enough to juggle in my life without managing unneeded relationships (oops, can I say that?). I just don't feel I have enough time to do it anymore and I'm trying to let these relationships go.

Have you ever felt this way? What did you do about it?

How do you find balance in your life?