Finding Balance

I'm enjoying my last day of Snow-In January. Snow is still on the ground and the roads are pretty much clear, but the temperature is in the teens in the Atlanta area so our schools are still closed. The air brakes on school buses do not perform very well in temperatures this low. So the school system Super Powers decided that it wasn't worth the risk of brake failure just to get in one day of school this week.

The hibernation has been fun but making up the hours will be burdensome. Sigh. It has been nice to have the time this week to clear out some of the clutter and organize that which I am keeping. This week has also caused me to begin to ponder my upcoming retirement and how my days of unemployment may look. It's a bit hard for me to imagine how it will really to be to have all that free time because I have been gainfully employed for over 20 years. My sisters and friends just laugh when I talk about all that free time I see in my future. Do they know something I don't yet know?

My pondering has led me to thinking about the importance of a balanced life. My life has not been balanced during my working years - especially not during the last 5 years. For the last five years I have worked 8-hours days and commuted 2 hours each day. So between 10 hours of commute/work, 2 hours of morning routines, 1 hour of lunchtime errands, 1 hour of dinner prep and eating, then 7 hours of sleeping, I have been left with a grand total of THREE hours on weekdays to do the things I want to do. And, of course, I'm so pooped by the time those three hours become available to me that I don't have the energy for doing much of anything.

But this week I've had the time and energy to begin preparing for the retirement stage of life and one thing I have been working on is my Wheel of Life. Those things that are important to me and that will help me live a balanced life. I want my wheel to be made up of 7 spokes - Spiritual, Family, Social, Work, Financial, Physical, and Mental.

My wheel has not been balanced these last few years. The career spoke has taken up so much time that the other spokes have been seriously shortchanged. Several areas have gone completely out of round, so the ride has been rough. This week at home has given me a new excitement for getting my Wheel nicely rounded out again. Easier said than done, right? Well for me, I have developed five attitudes that I will begin internalizing now so that I am ready for a productive retirement in 2012.

1) Let Go of the Busyness
Get rid of those activities that are unfulfilling.

2) Simplify
Stop over-scheduling and over-committing. Simplifying also means keeping my household free of clutter and possessions that require too much of my time for maintenance.

3) Put First Things First
After prioritizing the spokes of my Wheel, make a point of doing something that impacts the top three spokes early in the day.

4) Create Daily Routines but Remain Flexible
Daily routines are important to our mental health. But if we become slaves to the routine, we become bitter and hardened.

5) Do Something for At Least One Person Each Day
This could be as simple as preparing breakfast for husband or as elaborate as shopping for a shut-in or volunteering at the hospital. The point is to not let it be all about me.