"That said, my kids are at home right now with my husband and I'm missing something important at my daughter's school which makes me feel sick inside. It's a lot of balance and a lot of really hard decision making." -- Reese Witherspoon
I think a lot of us feel like Reese. Striking a balance in our lives is challenging, at least it is for me. I'm a mother and wife, a journalist and author, a sister and friend, a church council member and school advisory committee member and the list continues.
What I think makes the many roles I have even more difficult is that I never settle for mediocre or good enough. Whatever I do I give it 100 percent. Yes, I'm Type A. Yes, I'm a perfectionist. Yes, it's a demon that I fight every day, sometimes a blessing and at other times a curse. And yet, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Fortunately my kids are older and don't need me as much and I have an incredibly supportive husband. I try to save the weekends for him, but even that is sometimes difficult with both of our schedules. So I've learned to get the time when we can and make the most of it.
But to be honest, the juggling can be difficult, even for someone with pretty decent time management skills like I think I have. Sometimes you have to make choices because you can't do it all. If you visit all of the blogs on your blog reader, that's an hour or so that you don't have to write. If you spend an hour in a tweet chat, that's an hour that you don't have to write. So, you have to make decisions.
I wish I had time to do all of the things I want to do, but I don't. So I do the best I can with what time I have.
Nathan Bransford had a thoughtful post on this just yesterday. Check it out when you have time and tell me how you handle your many roles.
Sometimes I think it would be great if we required no sleep. I think of how much I could accomplish if I were awake all of the time. But then I remember how much I love my sleep. I mean, really, really love my sleep. (Wish I could go back to bed right now!)
Anyway, have a super day!
Thanks for reminding me to read that post. I have all the hats you do and am really struggling with the balance issue. And not winning. My daughter will be in high school next year so I am going to drop the volunteer at school hat next year. I've been doing it for 13 years.
ReplyDeleteBut I do spend too much time on blogs and am not sure how to handle it. Because you're right. It cuts into the writing time. I know people set a limit and that's it. But I just can't get through enough of them doing that. I do try to read them mostly at night when I'm too tired to write. But I'm thinking I need to try to write a bit then to be more productive. And yes, family time does suffer.
It's incredibly tough to balance everything. Sometimes going to the gym (where I somehow get all my best ideas) feels selfish, losing myself in writing while my son watches Sesame Street feels like poor parenting and declining paid work to save time for creative work feels senseless. I have to have faith that pursuing my passion will inspire my children to do the same and reap fruitful rewards.
ReplyDeleteOh, girl don't I know about being Type A, but I do mix it up with a little bit of flighty joy when it comes to fun.
ReplyDeleteI think you are amazing! I hope you do remember to relax and enjoy the ride along the way. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm type A too. Pretty much every job interview I've ever been on I've been asked what my strength was and what my weakness was...I'm a workaholic...it works both way.