Kelly: Finding Time for Balance
So I’ve been thinking more about this whole New Year’s Resolution thing, and I’ve come down to one thing: balance. That’s my word for the year. I must find balance. I must find a way to balance time with my family, with time to expand my creative endeavors, with time to work, with time to exercise, with time to eat right, with time to somewhere in there find and keep my sanity (and as DH just reminded me, time to finish repainting every room in the house). Though if we won the lottery, I could get rid of the “time to work” need and then have more time for the others! There’s a thought, however fleeting, since I rarely have time to even remember to buy a lottery ticket.
This picture truly nails my issue when it comes to the creative endeavors part of the challenge. My two favorite art magazines are Cloth Paper Scissors and Somerset Studio. When I first stumbled across Cloth Paper Scissors, I loved it so much I had to go online and order all the back issues. I’ve been methodically reading through them at night before I go to bed (unless I’m too absorbed in whatever book I happen to be reading…which is another thing I must squeeze in time for). See all those little sticky notes peeking out of all these Cloth Paper Scissors issues? Well those are all the projects I’d like to play around with. And this is just in CPS. I have a similar stack for Somerset Studio. I haven’t really shared much of my mixed-media playing around on my blog but I’ll start doing that more this year, too. Sharing. And while I’m at it, I’ll also be sharing more photographs as I already mentioned here. My blogging friend Karen Faulkner suggested a great resolution would be to capture at least one beautiful photo a day. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find time for that? And that involves remembering to find the time to always keep a camera with me, perhaps attached to my hip, with a hot pink cord for a dash of color.
So there you have it. In a recent comment on Cathy’s Promises, Promises post, Kathryn said she calls them “Dreams, Hopes, Wishes, and Aspirations.” I like that much better than resolution, don’t you? So my official Dream, Hope, Wish and Aspiration for 2009 is to find balance (and find time to call my sister once a week). Care to join me?
Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
Great post, Kelly.
What if you wrote all those things — the areas you want to focus on — on a list, and every morning, you reviewed the list and tried to figure out how you would fit a few of them into your day? Maybe you wouldn’t hit all the cylinders every day, but I bet you’d get to most of them at least once a week if you keep that priority list in sight. And things like “eat right” are easier to stick to when you remind yourself every morning of why that goal is important.
Balance, yes. It’s so hard to achieve, but if you can, it’s wonderful. I am with you on this, I need to explore ways to create balance in my life, in pretty much all the areas you cover here. I’m not sure how to do it. Most of the time, I feel like I’m flying around by the seat of my pants.
I’m not much of a craftsperson, but the Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine looks wonderful! I might just have to check it out.
i think we’d all find better balance on a seesaw or beam, but yea, that’s a good one! good luck, kelly! and i’ll leave calling your sister to you. 😉
Camera’s should always be on your person!!!!!
i’ve been carrying my camera around with me this 09 year … cause my art studio is at my renovating house and i’m living in a rental … and i need my camera there so much …. it’s actually quite nice to always have it on hand …
and that balance thing? i’m usually fairly well balanced … but i’ve been so off kilter lately i hardly even know me … it’s very weird … i think most people just have their own vibe … and it is when the vibe changes that life feels like more of a struggle …
go call your sister now …
Sounds like a perfect plan, Kelly! Go for it!
thanks for all the support and suggestions, guys. i like your list idea, miranda, and i may try that. finding time once a week for each of those things is doable…i’m just not very patient and want to do everything NOW. 🙂
I’m not crazy about the concept of “balance,” anyway. Doesn’t the word “balance” seem like an oxymoron in the context of motherhood? I prefer to frame this issue in terms of all the “ingredients” that I need to regularly incorporate into my life in order to feel mostly whole. Kind of like a stew pot — you need some carrots, some potatoes, some onions, some stock, some herbs — it doesn’t really matter exactly how much of each one that you throw into your pot, but you want to make sure that the basic ingredients are there — and accept that what sounds tasty today (Italian bean soup) might be replaced by something you like better a few months down the road (vegetarian chili). The key is identifying what needs to be included and making sure that some amount of that ingredient makes it into your pot.
My current recipe for Happy Mama? Write; take photographs; make something; avoid sugar & refined carbs; run; connect with each child every day; connect with my husband every day; plan out my day in the morning before it gets away from me; tidy-up every evening; laugh; breathe deep and look at the sky. If I could get those things into my life on a near-daily basis, I would be a fairly centered, guilt-free person. None of those items are that complicated, so I never understand why it’s so hard….Oh yeah, sleep. I’d love to add that to my list, but then again, I want my list to be feasible 😦
mir- add sleep to the top of your list! it will help in appreciating the rest of your ingredients.
in general, i’m walking around in a fog, and feel stupid, yet, last night we turned in before 10! baby c only woke 3x for feedings, s was up at 6 for godzilla movies, but he didn’t barge into the bedroom, the dog didn’t bark in her crate during the night, and i remembered to close the external pet door to the garage to prevent racoons and neighboring cats from visiting for warmth and driving the dog crazy at 4am, which was the night beofre and a usual scenario. oh and k slept at a friend’s.
in other words, i feel human today b/c somewhere during the night, i think i may have gotten a bit more than 3.5 hours in a row of sleep. 1st time since i was pregnant with c. sleep is sooooooooo regenerative!