Balancing

Earlier this year I hit a wall when I realized I hardly had hobbies anymore. I was sad to realize how long it'd been since I'd done some of the things that I'd loved to do or since I'd tried some new things. It's important to spend time growing personally through the things we enjoy or by learning new things, though. We are more than career people and housekeepers. I sought to have more of a balance in my life.

I'm still not perfect at this. There are still days where my house is a mess or my laundry sits waiting to get folded. There are some days I pass on working out in lieu of extra time to play with the dogs or work on the dishes before tackling school stuff. And there are times where I put off school work one more night to go to bed earlier. But we don't have exactly the same needs every day, either.

Striving for balance has helped me be a happier person, though. There's something powerful in taking time to edit pictures or work in the garden or to paint or to teach the dogs a new trick. It's taking time to enjoy these things that really do recharge me for facing the more challenging or demanding responsibilities, and it allows me to keep feeling joyful while I tackle them. It's easier to push away that stressed out feeling.

I don't want to be a stressed out grump all the time. I want to embrace life's ups and downs while being joyful and hopeful. I'm thankful that I came to the realization earlier this year that I needed more balance and that I've been able to get better at it. I still need to work on it, but we've all got to start somewhere.