Putting the whole “Finding a Balance” thing to the test.

As the title of this post suggests, I feel like I’m about to be put to the test. And here is why:

• The busy season at work is in full swing and likely won’t slow down until mid-October.
• I started my part time job on Sunday and it left me absolutely exhausted by the end of the day. I think I’m too old to have two jobs (and as Carly put it, one that’s so physical!)
• I plan to buy a new car this fall so need to start researching and test driving cars!
• I just finished week 2 of marathon training and this week speed work gets incorporated into my training plan.
• I started working with a personal trainer a couple of weeks ago and will be meeting with her on a weekly basis.
• I signed up for my own personal training certification test which is scheduled for November 22. Need to fit in study time somehow…
• We’ve been talking about starting our kitchen remodel project (completely gutting and re-doing the kitchen) in a couple of months.
• I’m the captain of our Ragnar team and there’s still a lot to do before the race! Oh and I got roped into captaining the team at work, too….
• Although my friends and family have been AMAZING and I’m about 75% of the way to my fundraising goal, I will still need to do some work to hit that $1,000 mark for Girls on the Run Twin Cities.

How I plan to find and keep a balance:

Learn to say no/ hold my “me time” sacred. I have a tendency to feel guilty when I have “white space” on my personal calendar and feel like if someone wants to make plans, I should just fill up that time. I’m going to work on spacing things out and not being afraid to say no when I need to.

Take care of myself: eating healthy, getting as much sleep as possible, etc. Meal planning and prepping will be crucial to make sure I don’t just opt for convenience food or make unhealthy choices. Getting a decent amount of sleep might be tricky but I’ve been doing a good job so far of getting around 7 hours of sleep a night, even with getting up earlier. I’m also still getting regular massages, which has been fantastic.

Continue seeing my therapist: sometimes you just need the help of a professional

Enjoy and savor the relaxing time at the cabin I have coming up in a few days! Our cabin is one of my favorite places on earth to be. I plan to be lazy and catch up on some reading I’ve been meaning to do 😉

Keep my eye on the prize(s): I find it’s good to keep perspective when things get tough. Eg. why am I working a part time job? I want to buy a nice brand new car in the fall. Also, I always think about the things I have to look forward to:

• The Basilica Block Party with Mandy!
• Chicago weekend with Andrea (and Hillary!)
• Um, hello Minnesota State Fair?! I hear there’s some pretty sweet new foods debuting this year.
• The marathon!
• I feel like the cabin deserves another mention 🙂

There’s a lot of  “me” talk going on (which normally would make me uncomfortable) but if I’ve learned anything recently, it’s that I have to give myself permission to put myself first sometimes so that I can be the best employee/wife/friend/pup and cat mom I can be.

How do you maintain balance in your life?