Balancing Act

Beinga small business owner, wife, mom, PTA member, kids in scouts, and multiple sports, my life is gratefully very full with loads of wonderful activities, however, when do I find time for other things that need to get done?  Laundry?  dr. appointments?  Exercise??

Exercise has been a huge outlet for me over the past several years; I was always active; did some runs and mini triathlons some decades ago, but after kids, its even more challenging to find the time.  I heard something once that stuck with me as soon as I heard it.  "You'll never FIND time, you need to CHISEL the time out of your day".  Yes, that's what I've done... I CHISEL it out...and sometimes, the chiseling hurts other areas, temporarily usually, however, it's a necessary 'evil'.  

Yesterday, I 'chiseled' time out to get a mani/pedi with my daughter, who wanted special nails for her birthday.  So we met another mom and daughter, her bestie, there and we all had our nails done.  of course, I was a little late because I had to peel myself from editing.   This is the first summer i'm realizing the benefits of summer camp.  My kids were never in camp; I was able to stay home with them and we'd take off and do things with or without the hubby and depending on his work schedule.  We'll go visit family down the shore, or wherever, plan fun excursions with their friends or cousins, or just have people over in the backyard pool.  

More chiseling, I get my exercise done early in the morning; I took several years off from exercising, ended up gaining 30 pounds and also gained a crabby attitude and some weird body pains, too.  I knew I had to start up again, and I have never regretted it; I know if I go a few days without exercising, the crabbiness comes back, so I try hard to stay consistent, however with the start of summer and owning a small and gratefully growing business, something had to give, so I took about 3 weeks off from exercise and it was a necessary evil, but I told myself I wouldn't go an entire month without.  Thankfully I have friends that like to exercise too and one invited me to yoga on the beach on sundays and the other invited me to join her in a bootcamp class that is outside on the docks on lake Hopatcong, near @Alice's Restaurant and the Miss Lotta.  If you're ever in the area, definitely take the class, or if you're not into exercise, take a trip on the Miss Lotta!  Its a great time.  Anyway, this month I did have to lean on my friends for help in putting a fire under my you know what to get back in the game.  I'm so grateful for that.  I told myself once I got back into shape and lost my weight, I was going to hold onto my health for dear life.  Sometimes its a struggle to chisel out that time, but it helps keep my mind body and spirit balanced.  

This is also the first year we didn't join our local beach, and good thing, since we live in Landing, which is the part of Roxbury that resides on Lake Hopatcong, and there is no swimming or fun activities except boating on the lake currently due to the "Algae bloom" issue.  How sad.  

Anyway, its around 2:30, I need to pick my son up from camp at 4:30 and I've been on the computer editing and catching up on emails for 3 1/2 hours now.  So trying to get some balance and have a late lunch and a few minutes of downtime before the next wave of activity starts; which will include dinner and folding 4 loads of laundry that have been patiently waiting downstairs for me since last night.  

Does anyone have some great ideas on how to keep your life in balance?  I'd love to hear it! I think many of us could use some good ideas for that, right? 

xoxo  
​Denise

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