A balanced life.

It sounds wonderful. So adult, so professional. Very zen and productive. But is it real ? Can we really do all the things we want to do and balance them at the same time.

When  I hear the term balanced life, I think of balls being juggled in the air . Round and round they go, always perfectly in time with each other. One wrong toss and all the balls go down at once. They scatter everywhere !!!

Balance. A balanced life. What is that really? Schedules, charts, organization skills. I get overwelmed just thinking about it all. What is a balanced life really look like and can it truely be done ?

The answer is, I do not know. I personally do not know a single human that has a balanced life. Everyone I know complains of not having enough time to get stuff done. Or they play too much one day and do not get work done , or they keep up with the house, or have a job either at home or outside the  home and that takes all their focus and they get nothing creative done.

I know I am not balanced at all. Housework, time with  hubby, time with kids and grand kids, time working on my YouTube channel, time listing the million items I need to sell that take up way too much space in my studio, gardening, cooking, budget, sourcing new items to sell. What about reading, baking, crafting for fun, finishing the crocheted blanket I started literally 15 years ago for my husband. House maintenance and repair. The stuff I can do. No. I have a stack of books to read I have bought slowly over the last few years on Amazon. That blanket sits unfinished. Projects started in my studio that remain unfinished. How many times did I restart that load of towels in the washer before they went to the dryer ? When our son asked if the washer was free. Now, that is not every load, but it happens more than I want to admit  !!!

Life kind of hit us a bit hard the last year. Lots of stuff we had to deal with, my husbands back surgery , leaving six months after his surgury to spend months out of state taking care of his mom until she passed , and then coming back home and he had to finish his PT and get back to work. Now he is  having some more issues , things that should not be happening for years after surgery happening less than a year after, and now he needs tests and we are not sure what else right as we all  had our lives turned upside down with this Covid 19 situation going on world wide. We , like everyone else, saw our lives , and what we loved to do, completely  turn upside down and  go away. It has been a sad and scary time. He has continued to work, so we were very lucky about that. But it was scary too !!

We wasted many weeks really getting not a lot done around the house. Some, because of his back, some because of a lot of rain this spring and some because we were just a bit down due to what all is going on.

We finally woke up and started moving again. We are having to do so much more work on our yard and property than we would have had to  had we kept it up.

My take on that is, just move. Even if you do not have any answers on how to balance your life, just do something. Work on everything important to you, at least a little bit on a regular basis. I cannot promise you that you will ever be organized and balanced. I can tell you though from experience that if you do nothing, things will fall even more behind and even fall apart making it even harder to get back on your feet and balanced. Some things you might never get back to .

What  I plan to do is this. Every day pick what I have to get done that day for sure and something I really want to get done that day.

work on that afghan,

plant some seeds,

weed that flower bed,

make a video

take some pictures,

bake something,

put that laundry in the dryer the fist time,

pick something that needs to get done and do it.

Pick something you really want to get done and do that.

Then, fit in whatever else you can during the day.

I have heard so many options to getting organized.

One young woman who I really respect and seems to actually keep pretty organized says she blocks out her entire day 15 mintues at a time. That is what works for her, and apparently many other people, and  I honestly commend them, but for me …..

No. No. NO, NO !!!

Not an option for me. That would be depressing and sad to have my every minute decided. I would never , ever stick to it. I would be very unhappy with that the first 15 minutes.

My husband early in our marriage wanted to do a planned weekly menu. The taco tuesday, Fish on Friday, Casserole thursday type thing, I told him no, that would be depressing to me to now what I would be eating based on the day of the week. So, 15 minute blocks, oh heck no.

Those things work for some people and if they work for you, I think that is really awesome. It is just not for me.

So, I will keep at it. Work at getting up earlier. I do really think that helps a lot. I will get up each day and work hard to do better than I did the day before. I think that is a goal we can all really work for.

Positive thinking helps.

Vision boards help.

Prayer  helps.

Faith absolutely helps.

Getting up and doing something works.

Just get up and do something. Anything toward your goals.

You have to take it one day at a time.

ONE.    DAY.    AT.    A.   TIME.

Write a list today of EVERYTHING you want to get done  . If you could have a perfect day. What would you accomplish ?

Write it all down in any order, just get it down.

Pick the one that is most important, write a one next to it.

Pick the next most important and put a two next to it,

you get the picture. Put it all on the list. Every single thing you have put off , and put off.

Now, figure , realistically, what can you really get done in that day. Be honest, no cheating, on trying to do more than you should.

What ever is left is the start of tomorrows list. Do that every single day, and it will help. Is it the cure  , is it the answer ? No, but it will help a lot.

I am a big fan of writing things down. Once they are on paper you can actually see them and they become real.

You cannot do,what you do not acknowledge. That is why it all has to go on the list. Even if it takes weeks to get to it, if is on the list and if you keep seeing it, you will eventually get it done to get it off that list.

Am I perfect at this, nope. But I am working hard to get better at it. I have an ongoing list. I am marking it off as I get things done and then starting the next day with a new list leading with what I did not finish the day before.

I am definitely a work in progress. But, the best art takes time and patience and is worth both working towards, and waiting for !!! If you want to be a masterpiece, it will take time and patience. But you can do it.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this subject !!

Thanks for stopping by !!!

Stephie