Thursday, January 10, 2013

finding a balance...

I've never been very good at balance.  When I dive into something I usually dive in headfirst and whatever I'm doing consumes me until I'm done.  Lately, I've been somewhat obsessed with hanging things on the walls and decorating the house.  I spent a day while the kids were sick printing new pictures finding picture frames and hanging stuff.  I have ideas of other things I want to do, but don't have the supplies to actually complete them.  I just finished reading 11/22/63 (the novel by Stephen King) it is about 850 pages.  Any free time I had while I was in the middle of that book went into reading it until I was done.  See, I get consumed by a particular project until I can check it off my list.  I'm better about multitasking at work but in my personal life I just can't seem to balance a bunch of stuff at once.  Obviously, I can't just be consumed with the kids for the next 11-14 years and not do anything else, but I don't know how to spread my time out, how to do things for myself and for everyone else without spreading myself too thin.  With a full-time job, 2 side bookkeeping jobs and the kids, I barely have any time left for Bob, much less myself, and in general the time I have for myself I honestly just want to sleep!  What is the key to a balanced life (or at least a more balanced life)?  How do you find time to do things that feed your soul and re-energize you when you feel like you have nothing left?  I know there are some very smart and well balanced mamas that read this...so I'm looking to you, wise ones, to help me have a more balanced 2013.

3 comments:

Holly said...

I'm not super great at balancing either. I definitely get easily distracted. So not sure I have any great advice for you. I just make lists and try to prioritize things. But I don't always follow them. :-)

I was curious what you thought of 11/22/63? I liked it quite a bit but felt like he definitely could have cut out about 150 pages and it would have still been a good book. ;-)

amber said...

Holly- I really enjoyed the book, but I agree it was a bit too long. I find the whole butterfly effect fascinating. I often think about how if I had changed one simple decision in my life how different things would be. For example, I always think what would have happened if I had decided to go to college somewhere else...I would like to think that you and I would have still met somewhere along the way, but the simple truth is we probably wouldn't be having this conversation in the comments of this blog post. :)
ps. I love lists if only for the simple satisfaction of crossing things off! :)

Holly said...

I know, it's so crazy to think about things like that. Isn't it interesting how things come together. Not only decisions you make, but other people too. You and I are having this conversation because Andrew decided to go to Knox. I'm not sure I would have met you if he hadn't. Even though you grew up not that far from where I grew up. ;-)

OH, and I totally write things on my list AFTER I've already completed them, just so I can have some things crossed off. LOL!