Finding Balance (How Do YOU Do It?)
Hey all! Happy Monday to you!
I’ve decided at the last minute that I’m going to take a week off from the blog. A little impromptu vacation…except that I won’t be doing fun, vacation-y things. I’ll be doing necessary, non-blogging-related, work-type things.
Which brings me to my question…
How do you find balance in your everyday life?
I’ll admit that I struggle with this on a daily basis. And so far, I haven’t figured out the secret.
I love to blog. Absolutely LOVE.IT. I love working on projects, putting my creativity to use, taking pictures of my DIY projects, editing pictures, writing blog posts, looking at other people’s projects and homes for inspiration, tweaking and “decorating” my blog, etc. I love reading other blogs, commenting, interacting with people on Facebook…
I could go on and on. I simply love every aspect of it.
But I tend to be a workhaholic, for lack of a better word. I mean, it’s difficult to consider this “work”, because I love it so much. But it’s easy to be consumed with it, and to leave precious little time for other things. Other things are constantly demanding my attention, but I’m constantly telling those things to be quiet, and I’ll get to them later. But I never do.
So I’ve decided to take a week and focus on those other, not-so-fun, real-life things. I hate the thought, but it’s necessary.
I often wonder how other people do it, especially other bloggers who have really successful blogs while also caring for their children an keeping their homes neat and clean. How in the world do they do it? And it’s not just bloggers. There are plenty of non-blogging women who work full-time jobs outside the home, who also manage to take care of their children, and their other responsibilities.
If you’re one of these people, what’s your secret? What time-management secrets do you have? How to you manage to get it all done? I’d love to learn!
If you’re a blogger, how do you schedule everything that you need to do for your blog, as well as get “real-life” stuff done? Share your insights, please!
Unfortunately, I haven’t learned those secrets yet, which is why it’s necessary for me to take a blogging break and focus on other things. I’ll still be posting features from other talented bloggers, and there will still be a link party this Friday. I just won’t be posting my own projects, and I won’t be around Facebook as much.
Here’s to a super-productive week! And I’ll be back next Monday to share my own projects with you.
(By the way, if you showed up this morning hoping to share what you accomplished for Make It Happen Monday, I’d still LOVE for you to share your projects! Tell me about it, or leave a link in the comments!)
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I feel a series coming up!! I don’t have any answers for you or me for that matter. I’ve been looking to you and some others for the answers and applaud any one that manages to do it all. I wind up doing the blogging thing one click after another that I’m blown away at the end of the day. Time flies when you’re having fun! Hope you have a productive week and get some answers to your questions. 🙂
My secret is that I DON’T do it all and I’m fine with that.
My kids will always come first, feeding my creativity is second to them, in whatever form it takes. I’m a single, sole support parent, so I have to work outside of the home. When I get home, we always have our dinner meal together and then disburse to whatever it is we have to do. Sometimes my house is dirty, I don’t mean just messy, but it is not anything that can’t be cleaned up in a jiff.
I have given myself permission to not be a perfectionist and it works for me. Enjoy your time to look after the “other” things in life 🙂
As today’s post shows, my answer to your question is: I don’t.
Still working on the whole balance thing. Hope you have a productive week. Breaks are good!
blogger, I often find myself overwhelmed. Even without blogging in the mix, I think I’d be overwhelmed. Blogging I do because I really enjoy it. I’ve always loved writing and being creative, so it’s more or less a hobby, rather than a job. But I do take it seriously and want to accomplish great things with it. If anything it motivates me to get more done around the house! I don’t have a cleaning service or a nanny…so the household stuff is 100% me, ok, well like 10% hubby at times. I have on top of it weeks and I have completely crazy, unorganized weeks. For me, it’s a matter of making a plan (usually on Sunday eves) to tackle everything I need to accomplish in the coming week (kids, work, home, blog, fitness) and just sticking to that plan as best as I can. Enjoy your break!
As a mom of two young boys, full-time employee at Boeing and a blogger, I often find myself overwhelmed. Even without blogging in the mix, I think I’d be overwhelmed. Blogging I do because I really enjoy it. I’ve always loved writing and being creative, so it’s more or less a hobby, rather than a job. But I do take it seriously and want to accomplish great things with it. If anything it motivates me to get more done around the house! I don’t have a cleaning service or a nanny…so the household stuff is 100% me, ok, well like 10% hubby at times. I have on top of it weeks and I have completely crazy, unorganized weeks. For me, it’s a matter of making a plan (usually on Sunday eves) to tackle everything I need to accomplish in the coming week (kids, work, home, blog, fitness) and just sticking to that plan as best as I can. Enjoy your break!
Darn, I was hoping this was a post on ‘How-To Find Balance’!
Right now I’m only a stay at Home mom and I still feel unbalanced; I’m hoping to add blogging and a business to that soon and I’m going to be in real trouble!
I hope you find peace in the week to come and get some ideas on dividing up the time in your life!
Here is my ‘Make it Happen Monday’ accomplishment (4 weeks in the making because Hobby Lobby ran out of ONLY the ribbon that I needed.)
No-Sew Grommet Curtains made from a Kohl’s Shower Curtain
(Next project is finishing that built-in beside it)
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/320388_798759433077_1694889050_n.jpg
I am struggling with this too lately! I am not managing well. I am forgetful these days, because I am too preoccupied with blogging, visiting, posts, pictures, etc. I wish I knew the secret. I took four days away and I came home to an abundance of things to do. I don’t think I ever will catch up.
I’m not a blogger and I don’t work out of the home, but I do love the blogs and I homeschool our 5 children. Plus, we live on a farm and have lots of work and chores to do and we’re building our own home so I do know what it can be to be unbalanced. The only thing that ever works for me is a schedule. At least one for the things that need done that week. A certain day for groceries and errands and appointments. There are certain things we do each day that do not change that help keep the house and small chores in line. If it’s in the schedule I’ll sooner stop whatever we are doing to do that thing. I love to work and get things done, so once when my kids were younger I even ‘scheduled’ my playtime with them! I know it sounds terrible, but it worked!
A good question and one I think most of us grapple with. I often get overwhelmed and have tried all sorts of organising strategies without much success – I’m just not very disciplined. So I’m looking at a new school of thought to try…I picked up a library book on Saturday which is about managing your time by working out what your goals are and focussing on activities that will help you achieve them. Give up on things that aren’t serving you well, delegate what you don’t enjoy and mostly compromise – go for good enough, not perfection. Another trick which may be useful is to work out your hourly rate of pay (even at home) and then apply it to everything you do to work out whether it’s worth doing and to help you realise how valuable your time really is. I’ve yet to see if this works long term but it has helped the last few days.
The answer is you probably won’t and that is okay. Really. We all have so much going on in our lives to juggle on a daily basis and even though my three kids are all grown up I still juggle my schedule daily. I work full time and work on my projects at night and weekends when I am not running around catching up on errands from the week (aka laundry, house cleaning, you know….the icky stuff). I also have yahoo groups, facebook, and blogs I like to read (like yours 🙂 ) and post on as well as a few other sites I visit on a regular basis. I let a lot of my online things go and I do not do a blog because of the time issue so maybe I am not the best person to ask.
I personally think your “real life” with YOU, your family and friends has to take the FIRST spot in your life. Nothing else matters as much as that does. Even if we all love your posts and what you write you have to consider yourself and those other firsts first and then you can juggle the other things as much as you can or want to. It is all perspective too and none of us are really as super human as we all think we are. So, relax do what you need to do and we will be here waiting when you return. 🙂 Be nice to you Kristi!!!
As for Make it Happen Monday. I FINALLY got all of my boxes unpacked and stuff put away in my loft space. I am not nearly ready to show any photos because it really isn’t organized all pretty yet but at least my son had a place for his air mattress to sleep on had a place in the loft when he came down to visit me on Sunday! That was my motivation for getting it semi done. Its soooo much better now (obviously) and safer since I am not side stepping and climbing over box after box of my art stuff now! 🙂 Yay me! 🙂
Enjoy the break!
Similar to other responses: I don’t find balance. Something always gives, whether it’s my full-time job, my blog {mostly}, or yes…time with my family. Sometimes I wonder if being super-busy has become my identity. When my boys were 1 and 3, I went back for my Masters degree while working full-time and renovating our house, plus a marathon here and there. Now that they’re a bit older {5 and 8}, I’m so involved in their activities plus all of the above. There is no easy answer, but I totally applaud your decision to take a break; I’m planning to do the same thing at the beach in 2 weeks, so wish me luck. 😉
Good for you, Kristi — I haven’t been ‘totally’ organized & everything done on the to-do list for many, many years! My biggest problem was always trying to get it all perfect — totally impossible. Now, I set priorities & aim to get the high & maybe some medium ones done, then see what happens after that.
My focus is on my family, home, & stained glass art — after that, it’s all a big bonus. I love blogging but my time for it is very limited. I don’t try to make money or post every day so there’s no pressure but I also know that I will never get the numbers that the ‘big’ bloggers get. It’s a sacrifice that I am willing to make.
I do love your Make It Happen Monday — it pushes me a little harder to post a weekly progress report, if not a finished project. This month I need to make four panels & the accountability will help me keep on track. The first one, ‘Summer Heat’ is finished & I’ve started ‘Winter Ice’.
So, a big thank-you, Kristi, for starting a great habit to that helps me ‘balanced’. I guess that’s the closest to getting it perfect — picking up new habits that make it all a little bit easier.
Kristi, I know we all struggle with this but I wanted to share one thing with you in case it makes you feel better. 🙂 When I was at the Haven Conference in Atlanta, all the bloggers who assisted with putting the conference together were all sitting at the front of the end of conference metting. Everyone who had attended the conference was there. Anyway, one of the Bloggers who had helped put the conference together quickly touched on how we all have trouble balancing everything and during that talk she stated that every single Blogger up there with her had a housekeeper or a maid service, except her. So to answer your question about how some of the Blogger of the larger blogs do it all and keep their houses clean…they hire help! 🙂 I don’t have a housekeeper, but the thought has crossed my mind once or twice. I’m just too frugal…I keep thinking of what else I could do with that money. But it is tempting!