Starting Monday, due to some TED talks I found particularly inspirational, I'm going to implement some small changes into my daily routine to try and create a little bit more balance and positivity. For those who care, it's a combination of this talk detailing how to rewire your brain to be more positive, this talk suggesting that you try something completely new for 30 days, and this talk showing how nutrition can heal horrible diseases. Focus: How do you stay balanced in your day-to-day life? Do you feel like you get enough exercise and knowledge and play and downtime, or are you struggling? How important IS balance...is it just some touchy-feely thing we think we need because the media says so, or is it a legitimate concern?
Booze helps. I'm single, in my late 20's, and work precisely 40 hours a week. I don't think balance is really a concern for me at this point. If it was, I'd have a whole bunch of other issues that needed to be dealt with first.
I keep balance by occassionally having a Saturday like I did this past weekend. I turned off my phone and watched five movies. It was great. Sure, I'll exercise to keep in shape and blow off steam, but those I'm-not-doing-a-fucking-thing Saturdays always help me to remain grounded and remember that it's ok to not give a shit about the world around me sometimes.
I put on short shorts, a top with a big number "4" on it, and a padded cap, and then I do my level best to put my shoulder through people's midriffs, stamp on their hands, dump them on their asses and butt them in the face. Notionally there's some kind of oval ball involved, but I don't really bother with it.
My life is not balanced. I know this. I work too much. I don't play enough. I don't spend enough time with my children. I go to bed too late, which makes my wake up time a dirty cunt. To be fair, I do take trips to see The Husband, and I recharge on those weekends...so that helps. The Husband being on the west coast and being on that time zone, combined with that our days don't wind down enough for us to really talk til 10 p.m. make for some long nights. Starting Monday, I'll go to work at 6 a.m., break for a couple of hours, then work til close to 8 p.m. M-F. I'm not looking forward to this at all. It's wearing me down, I admit that, but I can't count on anyone else to work as hard as I do, so fuck it. I don't know what I'm going to do to even it out. Working out is my job, sounds cool, but when it comes to relaxation, you dn't want to work. Maybe I'll find a different avenue of physical exertion. Get back into pole dance or something. Baseball season is coming up, I hope I can make more of my boys' games. That'd be a start.
I think balance is vitally important over the long term. Large portions of my life have been a study in imbalance, and while I had some awesome fun, it can burn you out. If you're going out drinking 6 nights a week, you're probably not achieving much career-wise, and your health is going to suffer. If you're working 80 hour weeks, you're probably weakening friendships you may need to get you through a rough patch somewhere down the track. I went slightly off the rails after some girl trouble this January. I've just about got to the point now where my life is back in balance and serving me well. I get my exercise and sense of progress through boxing training on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays, as well as a weekly game of beach volleyball. I try to keep my mind sharp through voracious reading, writing, and debates. I meet people and get some physical contact via dancing lessons on Wednesdays. I get my debauchery and socializing in on weekends. Oh, and I get some randomness and variety from the odd overseas trip here and there. I will have to do more about my career at some point in the semi-near future, but right now the free time for reading, writing, and exercise is more important to me. If I could get a regular game of poker happening on Monday nights to stops my skills rusting, life would just about be perfect. Well, poker and the odd cuddle, but can't have everything.
I keep balance in my life by making a schedule and then letting myself break away from it from time to time. Monday to Thursday is for going to work, getting some school work done, and eating healthy. Friday is for going to work, not doing school work, and eating pizza. Saturday is for relaxing and possible exercise. Sunday is for major school assignments, possible exercise, and getting house work done. Occasionally, I get major school work done during the week if I know I want to relax all weekend. I'm a substitute teacher, so I also don't always work during the week. The days I'm not working are for getting school work done and doing house work. Every day is for catching up on TV after work and getting some school work done. Sometimes I get house work done after coming home from work. So, I basically keep balance by getting stuff done when I feel like it. This works pretty well for me.
My life is completely out of balance right now, and its driving me insane. Due to shitty Appalachian weather my 'work day' on the farm usually lasts from eight in the morning til around lunch time, long enough to feed the animals and a few other minor tasks. This has been going on since early December. If I'm not working then I'm sitting in my bedroom mindlessly playing EVE: Online til I go to bed around midnight. I'm not really social except for Friday and maybe Saturday night, and that mostly involves drinking a couple of Bud Lights at my usual bar and driving back home. The only thing keeping me from jumping off a bridge is a possible job working for a road construction contractor that should start this spring; and the vague thought I'm going to get laid sometime in April.
I'm going to Vegas in a week to get drunk and play hockey. That pretty well tempers any work stress. That along with working out for Vegas (we're competitive guys) pretty well satiates me. Afterwards I imagine more hockey and more beer will keep me happy.
Sign me up for "I'm really fucking awful at life balance." I have periods where I would go all-out partying and outgoing for 2-3 months, then I'd basically cocoon myself for 3 months, and repeat. Right now I'm in the cocoon phase, but I have a possible fellowship in Hong Kong that's basically my out.
Balance? What is that? I work too much. When I am off, I don't want to move. Maintaining contact with people sounds exhausting. I want to see my kids and that's it. This is culminating in a couple of great, lifelong friends asking if I am avoiding them or something. I'm not, I just lack energy to go be social. I'm sure if I would just do it, it'd be fine. Which makes me think of the introvert/extrovert thread. I am an extrovert, but as I get older I am more introverted. Maybe it is due to my job being in sales, I have to be outgoing to be successful. So maybe being social is looking like work...