This one is a hard one for me, because I have never been able to figure out how to balance things in life. I am a person who dives head first into something when I’ve made my mind up to do it, and usually I end up overdoing it – whatever it is – and as a result I live in a pretty constant state of stretching myself too thin and feeling tired. Really tired. All the time. I think it is something that most of us do. We live in a world that is uber connected and uber busy. Information is thrown at us from all directions – email, social media, television, car radio, phone, tablet, and now even our watches (!) – and with all of this information and knowledge and connectivity, we find it increasingly difficult to disconnect, to give ourselves time to breath and recharge and relax and balance the things that we want to do for ourselves with the things that we need to do. At least this is my experience, and the experience of most people that I know, particularly our friends in the Bay Area. But the point of this blog is to figure out how to live with intention, to find purpose and take active steps to achieve those purposes and not to let life pass us by.
As I sit with a coffee on a Saturday morning writing this post, I am feeling guilty that I am not (A) working (the ultimate guilt trip in my life), (B) hiking the beautiful headlands in Marin, (C) doing laundry, (D) taking the furbaby to the park, (E) brunching with friends, or (F) you name it – don’t our to do lists always go on for pages? And then I get stressed because I am feeling guilty and anxious and you can see how the cycle continues.
And so I will try to slow it down. To take time for myself. To get enough sleep – Sleep! That wonderful thing that we all try to factor out of our routines for all the wrong reasons. To take that hour out of my workday to exercise without feeling guilty. To meditate and do yoga and give myself the time to figure out who I want to be today and what I want to accomplish. Or at least I will try. What do you do to slow things down and find balance in your busy lives?
Coconut currently. She knows how to slow it down.
BY Jackie
LOCATION San Francisco, California
