Joe and I have been working really hard to try and live a balanced life. It is so easy in this world we live in to get sucked into tv, our phones, facebook, eating out, or even not using our close proximity to the Basilica to attend Mass in the morning. There are so many things that we always talk about doing and sometimes those things never come to be because we let laziness or media or even our sometimes sleep deprived bodies tell us we are too tired to just not ready to get up and live how we know we should be.
For the last few months we have worked hard to find this balance--in everything from our budget, exercise, cooking and time we spend apart. Our job absolutely allows us so many incredible benefits outside of just living in this amazing city. We have the mornings and early afternoons to be productive, to use daylight hours to go on walks and to even recycle our cans at the local grocery store. Seriously, once we started to notice all of the ways we could work to balance our lives there was a flood of new activities and structure.
We are not always successful at this balance either. For example, the last two weeks we have been a little on the crazy side. We had to have work done in our apartment which meant our schedule was thrown off completely. We didn't have use of our kitchen or our normal times for naps, or exercise or dinner. Let me just say it has been SO HARD. It is really amazing how easy it is to get used to a schedule especially one that feels so good to live with.
Next week we will be in West Virginia for a vacation/Spargo family reunion. It will be nice to be with family and have time away, but I sure do look forward to our return to normalcy and to our balance life!
What are ways that you have found to be helpful in your search for balance? I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
As always,
Love, Sam
I have found that I have no chance at living a balanced life if I dont go to bed early enough to get my 7-8 hours of sleep. If I get less sleep than I need I am less able to make good decisions. I am grouchy and surly. I do what I feel like and not what I should. I make poor food choices and don't "feel" like exercising. I have very little physical energy. When I am tired at work I struggle with so many simple taks and I am not able to perform how I should, this makes me feel dissapointed in myself. So for me it all starts with allowing myself to get the sleep I need in order to function well. When I find myself wanting to stay up late for a show or an event or a book I have to ask myself if I am setting myself up to be a successful person by choosing to stay up later than I should. I have to own the behaviors that being overly tired brings on. The choice is mine and I have to conciously make it. I tell myself that I want to be a successful person and I am the only one who can determine that outcome. Success = balanced life.
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