Leaving tomorrow morning for another trip to New Mexico…and becoming acutely aware of how importance balance is. There is a Finnish proverb that I love that reads something along the lines, “Happiness is somewhere between having too much and not enough.” Basically that one extreme or another is not good for the soul and the ever-elusive “balance”, that “somewhere in the middle” spot is key.
In the terms of work-life balance, the pendulum has definitely swung in the direction of work, with very little life. I’m becoming keenly aware that it’s the end of summer and I didn’t enjoy much of it; didn’t really vacation anywhere (except for two long weekends related to work travel), didn’t get to spend much time at home, on the deck eating popsicles or reading a good book. Weekends have been spent catching up on sleep mostly, loathing Monday morning travel and wondering how much longer I can keep at this pace when my goal is to live a more meaningful, geared down life focused on time at home. There’s that duality again.
I was lucky to spend this entire week in Colorado, which I desperately needed. But it’s been a double-edged sword: the more I’ve been home the more I’m convinced I want to stay put. The conundrum, however, is that when I’m working several weeks in CO, I look forward to travel to somewhere else to change up the scenery. There’s that balance piece again. Too much or too little of anything will do you in.
I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching lately, trying to figure out when my journey will take me in a different direction and I know that I am the only one that can make that decision, to make that leap. Meantime, I’ll make it a point to create balance where I can, turn off the computer more, and work fewer of those marathon days. So while I can’t change the fact that my job is requiring more and more travel, I will focus my sights on a new mantra: No one can balance your life except for you, so make it a priority.
