In the month of June, Forward Motion's Merry Go Round blog topic is balancing life and writing. It is a tough topic for many reasons but everyone can relate. So, it is time to delve into my experience with the balancing act.
From the minute we are born, we must learn to divide our time amongst different tasks. The young baby has only a few things to balance: sleep, eat, cry... It is simple and the baby never has a worry because these things settle in well together. That is until they grow and need to learn new things like crawling, feeding themselves, walking and talking. The lesson begins.
Life prepares us slowly for the busyness of adulthood. We start out like that infant with limited abilities and needs. Slowly, new skills are learned and we grow to learn to balance physically as well as figuratively. Once you get the physical balance down, you start to run and never look back. Seems awesome, right? But what are you running towards? Adulthood. Responsibility. A life to balance all of your own roles in it.
I am a wife, an aunt, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a homemaker and a writer. These are just the roles I fill today. As we start our family, a mother's role will be added. I toss my juggling balls into the air and hope for the best every day. My feet it the floor each moment with the sole purpose of not disappointing anyone in my life, myself included. However, I am the first person I sacrifice to take care of others. My time alone, my time to read and, of course, my time to write, These are the first things to go. My husband is taken care of as well as our home. My parents have been checked in on. My friends and other family members have all claimed their piece of me for that day. The quiet of evening takes over and the time to write turns into zoning in front of the TV to relax. But no more will I let my life run me!
My new resolve in life is to balance the personal life and my writing life so that each is fulfilling. I have a to do list each day. It includes the household activities that need tending to as well as my objectives for my writing. I am not looking at each aspect of my life as a chunk of time but as each task getting the attention it deserves. Today is writing this blog. Tomorrow I will start to create character profiles for my next project. Will I fail some days? I am sure of it but I still toss those balls in the air every morning. Hope for the best and expect the worst. You end up happily surprised at the end of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment