Unbalanced
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 3:01PM
I tell you that I'm going to write more (whether it's good or not) and then I disappear for a week. I know, I know.
It's this mythical "Life Balance" thing. Have you heard of this elusive unicorn? I thought I had actually achieved a reasonable approximation of it. Or at least as close as you can get without cloning. I was all like, I have a great job and a reasonable amount of energy and I'm exercising and eating ok and my house is not a total biohazard (no more so than usual) and I'm scheduling time to blog. I even have time to read a book or two!
Then I realized I hadn't exchanged more than 3 words with Alfred in days, and my kid thought Bob the Builder was going to be the one showing up at parent-teacher interviews.
Okay. Well, I can massage that all in. I'll just move this workout and skip doing the dishes, and have takeout ONE day a week, it's not much to sacrifice to spend quality time with my family.
Oh, and my friends. Right. I should spend time with them too. Okay, so I'll skip a workout and go out for lunch with them, and spend some time on the phone instead of blogging.
Wait. That was the whole point. Also, what about those two committees I volunteered for? I sort of forgot about them.
OKAY. So I'll move the workout, skip the dishes, eat takeout TWO days a week, make some phone calls and stay up a little later. Eating nachos.
And....you see how this goes. You KNOW how this goes.
I don't think it's a Life Balance. I don't buy that anymore. I think it's a Life Rotation. This week I am a stellar exerciser but a crappy parent. Next week I am a junk food eater but a great friend. The week after I'll have an immaculate house and be avoiding emails asking why I haven't completed my responsibilities.
I wonder when I get to be a fantastic astronaut and a terrible surgeon? That will be fun.
Where do you strike YOUR balance?
Keely | 15 Comments
Reader Comments (15)
I love this post because I'm struggling with this myself and I totally agree. I should be cutting back on things, but I don't necessarily want to. It is just me and my husband at home now though, so I don't have the demands of young children. Just the demands of a big child, LOL. If you ever find the answer, let me know!
I don't find the balance - it's exactly the same. This week, I am a terrible committee member, an unhealthy eater, a stranger to the gym, a decent parent, and a killer knitter.
One day a friend told me whenever she hears women talking about how they've "found balance in their lives" it just means they're rich and they pay people to do stuff for them. "And then I hate them," she said.
I don't know. God knows, I wish I did. I'm starting to feel like my own personal balance is just to suck at everything and drop all the balls on the floor at once. I was in fact contemplating this very thing earlier while doing the third load of laundry for the day, vaguely thinking my daughter's room really is getting scary, and that I never did get my shit together and call the other art project mom, or the guy I told I'd help edit the newsletter, and crap I forgot to pick the prescriptions up at Target again, and I really need to at least gently dip a toe into the murky waters of doing my taxes for my first year of pseudo self-employment...I wonder if it would be possible to get all the miscellaneous junk (what IS all that stuff? random basket, folded up comforter, tstill-packaged tablecloth, baby clothes, stack of paperwork--never mind) off the rowing machine so I could at least try to exercise, but what are the odds I could just toss it all and God knows there's nowhere to put it, did I gave the cat her antibiotics this morning?...oh, hell, I forgot to take a shower--I wonder if anyone will notice or care? And the most vexing question of all: How is it everyone but me manages to keep their lives going along so much more competently than I do? Thanks for the reminder that I'm not the only one!
I try and focus my balance on work and home and juggling time with hubby and kids
I never do!! Ha! I am always off balanced!! Always!! Ha!!
I can so relate to your dilemma!!
Hugs
SueAnn
Life balance, uh yeah, I'm not particularly good at this concept. I'm more of a shuffle things around, procrastinate until the last minute then do a half-assed job kind of gal.
There are just too many balls in the air to get everything in balance and perfect all the time. I just try to stay in front of the fires......
I just wrote about this last week. My balance is knowing that not everything is going to get done and I'm still going to bed at a decent hour and I don't care! I hope you find the balance. And if you do don't forget to blog about it so everyone else knows too!
Balance? Nope, none here. If krappe's getting done it means I haven't been sleeping. We're in "just keep your head above the water" mode at our house. I suspect we'll stay there a while, until someone dies of exhaustion or we hire some help. Yup, until someone dies of exhaustion.
I believe balance is a myth created by men to make women feel inferior. Or maybe by zombies. I don't know. I just know it doesn't exist and trying to search for it just makes you crazy. It is more like you said, rotation. You deal with what's important when it's important and try not to worry about neglecting it the rest of the time.
I find balance by simply doing everything poorly. That seems to work.
LOL... I laughted so hard. It is life "rotation". I'm going to pitch that to my HR department so they stop shoving that life "balance" BS down my throat. I miss my friends the most. I like to believe that I excel at most things but to what end?
By not having children, neglecting my cats, and abusing my body with little sleep and too much Taco Bell.
I haven't yet and I don't think I ever will. Like you said, some weeks you're on and some weeks you're off. (Frick, is that Heidi Klum's line?) Some days I hate my blog and how needy it is. Some days it makes me giddy. All I know is I am a glutton for punishment.