Happy march 23rd! I hope that you took time to make a list of your top priorities and have been taking a serious look at how balanced your life actually is.
One of the aspects I am trying to include more in my life is FUN! How easy it is for me to stay focused on my own personal work, my website, classes for my students, private sessions, yoga etc……….I love my work and much of the time it IS fun. It is certainly deeply fulfilling …MOST of the time. But I also need time away from it to maintain balance for myself and therefore to the work that I do. I am doing better. I am spending one or two nights a week with friends, I have coffee/tea with friends at a local coffee shop once a week (which I SCHEDULE into my day), I am going out for lunch during the week occasionally (OK just once so far) I am really giving myself permission on Sundays to NOT work at my desk. And of course, i laughed like a crazy person in Hawaii with my friends……so wonderful for me. 
It feels good. Living alone, I have to make an effort to connect with people outside of my work. I am a homebody and I love my home so it is very easy for me to just stay in…….but I have known I need more balance and this feels good.
I share my own story to help you look at your own. Where do you need to prioritize? Maybe what you need is more time alone. You may find that you need to schedule THAT into your day. Maybe you realize that you have not been spending heart-connected time with your partner…..time to set up some dates and time for quality conversation and connection.
The point is, we have to be conscious as to how we spend our time. Is it fulfilling? Is it satisfying? Do we feel fairly balanced? Only we can make the changes that we need.
The one thing that I do know is that we do need a certain amount of time to be able to live out our priorities. If we are already swamped from 5:00-10:00, there is not much wiggle room. Maybe the priority at this place is to spend some time figuring out how to HAVE more time!
Anyway, more to think about around priorities. I think that it is helpful to check in every now and then with ourselves and see how we are doing. How balanced is our life? It doesn’t have to be balanced perfectly each day but just over all……Again, we do not have to do ANYTHING perfectly. Put some awareness at how you are spending your time, see how it all feels and don’t take yourself too seriously!
much love, Melanie
please comment! I love to hear from you!! Let me know if you had any insights with these blogs on priorities
Melanie, your message strikes home today. I was just journaling this morning (and thought a lot about it on walks on the beach in Belize) that I want to put my order in for a best friend and/or girlfriends. When you make the effort to call a friend she benefits as well. It’s not always easy to be the initiator or to make a committment, but to say “yes” I’d love to have lunch is easy!! Wishing you well in balancing your work/free time efforts. I’ll keep you in mind when I’m making plans to do something FUN!
Dear Melanie,
I just this morning commented to my husband that I am glad we are going out to dinner with a good friend tonight because “all work and no play makes Pauli a dull girl.” So thanks for the re-inforcement.
Did you really “Laugh like a crazy person” in Hawaii? More likely you laughed like a SANE person–SANE enough to take some time off and let the joy/happiness/goodness of life come bubbling forth!
pauli,
thanks for the comment! Yes, good call on the SANE part:) Have a great time tonight…….much love, m