Finding Balance

Lately, life seems to be about finding balance for me. When you're trying to find balance, you tend to ask a lot of questions. How do I give my time to these important tasks, while keeping some for my own down time? How do I take care of this person, while retaining my own integrity? How do I not fall on my ass as I bend forward, squat, and push my weight downward? (That one's from yoga) It's all about checking in with yourself and your own needs, and that means putting yourself first.
Now, I'm not saying that taking care of others is wrong or unhealthy (in fact, I'm completely of the opposite opinion, and what I'm saying here is really more of an ideal philosophy that I'd like to be able to adhere to, but don't very often). What I'm saying is that, if there is anything I've learned in the last year or so, it is that if you're hurting yourself to help someone else, it often isn't worth it. Sometimes, taking care of yourself has got to come before taking care of someone else, and for some of us, that's a really hard idea to get a hold of, but it's important that we do.
Balance is, in theory, quite simple. You take forces, and you attach them all to a center point, and you don't let the entire contraption tip too far one way. Balancing your life, however, is not so simple, because we're human, and we're flawed. Not only are we flawed, but our society as well. We're designed to be multi-taskers (for example: Right now, I'm drinking tea, blogging, chatting on facebook, and listening to Krista Detour). With all the plates we're expected to keep spinning, how can we possibly hope not to drop a few? Personally, I just put them down from time to time.
Sometimes, putting things off is not a bad thing. It's important to take space you need to just do what you want. Take today, I got home from my first day of school, knowing that I had to blog, do homework, go to yoga, and make myself dinner, but I was feeling pretty drained because it was my first day back, and that transition can beYou know what I did? I knit on the cardigan while watching "Julie and Julia" (Great movie, full review tomorrow, maybe along with "Doubt"). Anyway, I finished the movie (stopped in the middle to fix myself some dinner), went straight to yoga, and came home to do homework and am now writing my blog. All my stuff done, but I took care of myself first, and now I feel awesome! Plus, I have 16" done of the cardigan now! See?



I might actually have it done by the end of the month!

Thing to be grateful for today: Balance