Balance
People have been asking me a lot lately- “How do you balance everything?”. So I thought perhaps I would divulge my methods for attempting to balance this life the best I can. I say attempt because quite frankly, I fail quite often. Forgetting birthdays, messing up my scheduling or just straight up having a mental breakdown. Totes happens. Remember the name of my blog? My life is sometimes an absolute MESS. I could very easily sit here day after day and complain to you about my long work weeks, loads of homework or my sweets addiction that causes my jeans to fit too tight. But who would want to listen to that? Instead I will complain only sometimes (okay maybe more than that) and tell you about my awesome workouts, amazing friends, fun travels, rewarding job and all the little deets in between. Much more fun to read about.
Rare is the week I miss a run with my pup, he needs the exercise too!
So back to this question, how do I balance two jobs, graduate school, training/working out and still have time for friends family and fun?
I first must point out that I know this sounds totally lame, but both my Admission Counselor job and personal training job are straight up fun. I laugh everyday, I feel like I am making a difference everyday. So while yes I may have little time for other fun things, my day to day life makes up for that.
A little wine never hurts either…
I am a big planner, so I have found that what works best is literally writing out plans week by week . Every Sunday night I sit down, look at my schedule for the week which always changes and I literally write it all out. THEN I put where I am able to fit in my workouts, my homework assignments for that week, errands, etc. This helps me to make the most of my time and be able to prioritize, also to not waste time on things that are not important or shift something if needed. I am then able to visualize what time I have left over each week and spend it accordingly. Whether that is dinner with a friend, time with family, date with Shain etc. I spend my time on things that are important, make me happy and are getting me towards my goals, period.
I am a serious list maker which aids to this as well. Every morning at work I make my task list for the day and I literally write what time frame of that day I am going to do it. For example: 8am-10am respond to emails, 10am-1130am approve files, etc. I do better when I know exactly what I need to do and when I need to do it. Otherwise I will find myself answering emails all day long but not accomplishing tasks, getting caught up in office banter, wasting time online etc. As my day is often is incredibly unpredictable, there are plenty of days where my schedule goes out the window, but that’s okay.
I also have what I like to call my ‘happiness laws to live by” that I highly recommend everybody should make. There are quite a few of them, so I will save them for another day but they are guidelines for myself such as, no negative people allowed, 7-8 hours of sleep always, etc. Whenever I feeling unhappy or overwhelmed, I look at these laws and more often than not I am unhappy because I am not following one or more. You know what makes you happy, own it.
One of my laws to live by is having one hour a day to reflect, pray, journal etc. In today’s world when we are go go go, it is important to really sit down and be at one with your thoughts, feelings etc. It is during this hour that I almost always have my biggest ideas, revelations and breakthroughs. Writing these blog posts is usually a part of that hour too 🙂
With adding school to my plate this year, I have realized very quickly that there are things I need to cut back on. I enjoy being busy, but it has gotten a little out of hand and I am working on that. Truth is, life is better when it’s simple.
