The Secret to Living a Balanced Life

Jeff & I working at Pali Institute

You see it and hear it all the time, balance, your life should be balanced. As in, eat a well balanced diet, find a balance between your love life and work, happy people are emotionally balanced, etc. So what's the secret to living a balanced life, well after twenty-nine years of running to and fro I am starting to realize something. A balanced life isn't quality time with Jeff, or having a certain amount of time to myself, or having specific things set in place at the same time (clean house, mellow Cheddar, errands done). For me a balanced life is preparation.

Yesterday's events were the inspiration for this post, for you see I did not prepare and that resulted in skipping my swimming session. The idea was to do a morning session because November 5th was our two year wedding anniversary and we were going to celebrate in home with Italian food, a nice fire, and Casablanca. While I missed my morning swim due to a major headache from too much wine the previous night (my mistake for not preparing for the morning), I was ok not trying to cram it into our evening plans. It's our anniversary, and while that doesn't mean I have an excuse not to train it also doesn't mean training trumps celebrating an important life event.

We love cake! Married after 5yrs, Nov. 2011

Jeff and I met towards the end of 2006 at Pali Institute where we were instructors at an outdoor school. He's always been a planner, and loves to research, while I've always been a free spirit that goes where the wind blows. Much to his chagrin, I don't plan ahead and always underestimate how long it actually takes to get ready, go somewhere, or do something. However, recently something within me has changed where I now, all of a sudden, want to do many things; train for the Ironman (as you all know), learn German, bring my Spanish to a college level, and keep up with the book club. All of this while taking care of Cheddar and Jeff has made me one busy woman. So by default, in order to be able to do all of these things I have to plan ahead and do some prep work for the coming day.

So how do I manage to fit an hour of training, six days a week, into the schedule? Well, it really comes down to making the mornings work, getting all the timing right from waking up to biking to work. This happens smoothly when I plan the next days breakfast and lunch, and make sure they are in ready to go containers so that I just grab and go. Otherwise, if I fail to prep, Jeff goes hungry, I eat poorly, and I'm late for work.

In the end, I guess there is no one secret to having a balanced life. It's all individual and personal. The answer is What do you want to do? and What do you need to do to make it happen? I've started applying these questions to each day and then I prepare accordingly in order to make it happen.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LOVE!

Thank you for your never ending support :)

Our family; Jeff, Cheddar Pancakes, & Me