Balance

Balance... I eat a somewhat balanced diet, keep my checkbook balanced, and can even balance on my right foot for a pretty long time. But I am continually working on a work/life balance. A balance of work and play. A balance of loving my people, weather it is spending time with them or washing their underwear, or spending an evening on the deck hashing out life with a friend over margaritas. Pair that with the 40+ hour work week that demands most of my time and a lot of my energy and it is really hard to find the time to do the things that make my heart sing, like quilting. But when I do find the time, or make the time I should say, to spend with needle and thread I feel balanced, even if the dishes are piling up in the sink and we are eating cereal for dinner. Time spent in my sewing room is time well spent. It makes those long work weeks easier to handle, and somehow I have more patience to deal with those I love. 

Some days, weeks, months, balance is easier than others. Sometimes it is easy to fit in a few minutes here and an hour there in the sewing room all while attending my kids activities and keeping my house clean enough. Other times all I ever feel like I am doing is going to work and washing dirty laundry.

I am working on balance. Every day it is an effort of conscious living. What are my priorities? What is most important right now? What can I let go? What can I delegate? What am I really hung up on that I don't need to be? Where can I carve out some time just for me (and stick with it?)

And sometimes balance is putting things into perspective; the hours I spend each week on meal preparation really is loving my family. My job, although time consuming and sometimes exhausting makes a difference in the lives of others. Spending time in my sewing room helps me to better deal with everything else that comes my way. So, I am learning to make time for me, and my Bernina a priority.