Balance of Brian & Babies: We are pretty good at this one, but it is ever a focus. Balancing couple time with family time. Balancing one on one child time with sibling time. For both girls' birthdays this year, I am taking the Monday before their birthday off from work to spend with just the birthday girl. Camryn's has already passed and we had a great day just palling around together. We baked cupcakes for her classroom to share on her actual birthday, we did some grocery shopping, puzzle putting together - basically just hung out. Emma and I are planning the same for her birthday, but we will also be delivering donated items that we are collecting at her birthday party, in lieu of gifts, to KPC Kids' Place . We also get one on one time with the girls when one has a birthday party to attend and the other does not go. This time is as important and special as the time we all spend together. Brian and I are consistent with getting couple time alone, as well. Thanks to having Grammy in town, Nanna and Pappa that come for visits or we visit them and a long list of awesome babysitters, we can usually sneak away at least once a month, sometimes more, for a date.
Balance of Body: Last year, while training for ING Georgia and after incurring my running injury, I started incorporating a good amount of cross-training into my workout schedule. From yoga to pilates, strength training, cycling, trail running - I have found what I feel is a really great mind/body balance for me. Too much running, I get burned out and seem to be much more injury-prone in my old age *wink*. The extra core work I get from yoga and pilates brings my body in balance and strengthens me as a runner. Another change for this year is not taking my running so seriously. This plays into my family and work life balance - I'm a type-A (in case you didn't know that already), so if I say I'm going to do something, I push myself to finish that goal...and before you know it, I feel like an acrobat teetering on high wire. This quickly leads to irritability, lack of focus in other areas of life, undue stress. I love running, but it's not what defines me. I'm much happier running and doing my other "new" activities, to stay fit and healthy, than running to meet time goals. Do I want to push myself to grow - absolutely! The difference here is that I'm officially letting myself off the hook. I will pull back if I'm pushing myself to the point where an injury is inevitable, I will not be disappointed in myself if I don't run PRs, there is so much more to my life. If I pick up a PR along the way, fabulous! Either way, I know I'll be healthy and balanced in the end.
Balance of Budget: A little exercise completed just before the new year has me on a new mission. With two nice incomes, we have spent pretty freely over the years. We save first, of course, but when I tallied up and categorized where our money went last year, it was a real eye-opener! Restaurants, clothing for the girls, clothing for me (and I didn't even buy a new handbag last year!), it was ridiculous. None of these were huge purchases at once, so it doesn't seem like much when you aren't tracking it on an annual-spend basis. The current state of the economy helped to contribute to this little exercise as well, we are all looking for ways to cut back and save. I'm learning that when I get those Sale Alert emails, just delete them without even opening. I'm a sucker for a sale, so I'll buy something if it's on sale...even if we don't really need it. Like the girls' clothing, Gymboree has a sale or gymbucks offering and I'll go buy something. Which leads to them having clothes in their closets that never even get worn! Thankfully, Emma's stuff gets passed down so at least Camryn has some new things from Emma, but still...do they really need that much. Of course, the answer is no. So, we are starting fresh this year with a BUDGET - one that will stay out of the red! An amazingly new concept for us but we are doing great one month in and I'm completely committed to making it work for the long haul.
So there you have it. This year is about balance, restoring balance in various areas of life. We are becoming more aware each day of how these balances impact everything we do and experience. It's a continuous journey but one with which I'm sure we'll see positive results!
A late and very Happy New Year to Everyone!!
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