Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Q and A: How do you keep your life in balance?

In my last post I talked about some things I want to have MORE of in 2011, one of them was to have more balance in my life and here is where you come in, I am ready for a slew of ideas, tips, and suggestions or even additional questions or insights or quotes, basically anything that will give me more direction and more substance to my journey.  I think I have already started to move in the right direction but could use more than my own brains churning on the idea and I am sure there are some others out there who could use a little balancing act check.  So please type away! :)

It seems that some days I manage to have things in balance, I juggle spending time with children, spending time with my husband, cleaning, running errands, organizing coupons, callings, etc in a mostly prioritized and smooth manner. But then there are days that some things fall out of place, my priorities fall out of whack, and I just simply do not function with balance.  I find myself often juggling with full force one of my responsibilities and for a time I neglect everything else.  I might get all motivated in the cleaning department and neglect my children (not good).  I might give my children my undivided attention and the cleaning is none (not good either).  This can happen in all aspects of my life but you get the idea.  I definitely am in need of a balancing act check.

To help along the way my husband has urged and I have accepted a new addition to our weeks, "Me Time".  Every Wednesday I am going to get some alone time which I am enjoying at this very moment.  I seldom take time for myself away from the kidlets and often reach the end of my rope and this will hopefully aid in adding balance to my life.  What a peaceful and rejuvenating feeling!  Yea for my first official "Me Time"!

And now back to business, how do you keep your life in balance?  What do you do to make sure you focus on ALL things that matter and require attention and time?  

6 comments:

Michelle H said...

I wish I could figure this one out. Or come up with a "me time" activity that didn't involve me ending up spending lots of money. Enjoy your time away!

Dianna said...

This is hard for me too. Like you said, sometimes there are great days when everything works out, but for me, more often I let at least one thing slide.

We are so blessed with so many wonderful things to do and it's hard to choose.

This year I'm working on getting my housework done in the morning instead of procrastinating all day so I can do other things in the afternoon that keep getting neglected, like sewing, organization, decorating, and other large sorts of projects. So far it's not going perfectly, but I hope it will come in time.

Mostly I've just decided that there are lots of interesting things to do in life, so why do I keep letting silly little things like laundry get in my way? If I just do it and get it out of the way, then I can move on to do other more interesting and fulfilling things.

We'll see if I can make it work. :) Good luck to you in your quest for balance. I think it's something we're all working on!

Christine said...

Do less not more, and be more patient and forgiving with yourself. It all balances out in the end. You do not need to do everything in one day. That's why you have a lifetime to figure it all out.

Christine

Gdub said...

In my experience there is no such thing has finding an equilibrium between the tug and pull of all our different responsibilities. Some days require more emphasis in one are, and others in another. In the end, the only way to know where your focus should be at any given tim is to follow the spirit. With it's promptings and feelings, you'll be able to be aware of what matters most and what you need to work on. That's how it's always worked for me.

Nate said...

My grandfather always used to say "90% of what we worry about never comes to pass and the other 10% we can't do anything about". (I don't know if this is a quote from someone else. My biggest thing in keeping me from being balanced is worrying/stressing about things. When I calm down and let the worries leave it seems to help me know what is most important.

Good Luck

Unknown said...

My life is nowhere near as balanced as I like, but a couple of things I try to do and/or remember:

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
Planning and schedules have always had a top spot on my to do list. Plan your days, weeks, months....know what you need to do by when and then map it out.

In Oct., leaders from SLC came to speak to us...a few of the things that stuck with me:

--If you don't feel overwhelmed, you aren't doing enough.
--We are like the chinese girls who balance plates on twirling sticks...eventually a plate falls off. Basically, we can't balance all or our plates at the same time, nor should we expect to be able to.