Finding Balance: Tips for Juggling Work, Family, and Personal Time
Finding balance in work, family, and personal time will always be a challenge. There can be tips implemented to help bring the scales to a balanced position. Read along as I offer my tips for juggling work, family, and personal time.
Work
Boundaries in work provide guidance for how to not allow it to consume your entire life. Currently, I am implementing specific work hours. Working on my own allows for a lot of flexibility which is an attractive feature of my work; however, this feature also provides opportunities for me to put off doing necessary tasks. Setting specific work hours makes sure that I not only get my work done but that my job does not interfere with my family and personal time.
A good planner/calendar keeps my life on track. This article shares a variety of cool planners. I cannot function without my organizers. A full month calendar view and a day to day calendar view with provided lines for notes is a must. Below is a picture of the same brand planner that I have for the current year. The shown planner is for the 2024-2025 year.
This planner is the same brand as my current planner. *As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission from any eligible links.* Family
My family is the most important aspect of my life; however, my family, like yours is growing and with that growth will come seasons that will look differently than my current one. Why do I share that? Because how I serve my family now will not look the same in 5 or 10 years. Just as how I served my family 5 or 10 years ago is different. There needs to be a balance in how I serve my family and how I create space for myself.
As overstated as this is – dinnertime really is the best time for me to lay eyes on my family and to hear about what is going on in their lives. Having a weekly meal plan in place, helps keep dinnertime on a positive track. I recently shared some ideas for meal planning, here.
In addition to natural conversations that take place around the dinner table, a visual aid for the family to track our activities is an asset. Currently, we have a dry-erase calendar established upstairs where my kids’ rooms are located. In the future, I would love to have one of the Hearth Display calendars in our home – its organization is next level!
Check out the Hearth Display account to see this neat family organizational tool. Personal Time
Is personal time an oxymoron as a mom? I will definitely be the first to say that personal time as a whole has evolved for me over the course of my marriage and time as a mother. As a new mom, I’m not sure how much personal time existed for me because my focus was my family and home. While I still focus on both of those areas, I have realized as my children grow into becoming young adults, creating space for me to be individually me is important. My identity as a mom will take a big hit when my kids have moved out of our home into their own lives.
Questions I ask myself that help me curate personal time are: do I, myself, enjoy this activity? Is this an area of growth I would like to explore? Will this event/activity help develop me as a person? Does this activity bring me joy or peace which in turn benefits those around me that I have a relationship with?
Two self-help tips I would offer: write in a journal and invest in a counselor. Journal writing doesn’t have to be daily but getting your own thoughts down on paper, help with keeping a balanced life. Spending time in therapy is beneficial to ALL – I do not care who tells you different. Do not know where to start on a counselor? Ask a trusted friend whom you know receives counseling on who they would reccommend. A counselor can also help you navigate this work/family/personal time balance.
Hopefully I have provided enough tips to help you find the balance needed in your life. Please share which tips you like most. I would love to hear from you!
Couch to 5K: My Progress Journey
There’s a reason why I only made two goals for the entire year. One goal was to write 52 blog posts in a year (notice I did not say I will write one each week;) ) and the other was to run a 5k in its entirety. Running a 5k has been on my radar for more than a decade. While I have participated in 5k races, I have yet to run the full distance of a 5k. Read along as I chronicle my progress journey.
Why a 5k?
I played sports from middle school through high school and then participated in intramural sports in college. After college? Nothing. I have dabled in working out here and there but nothing consistent. When I attempted a 5k about 10 years ago, I liked the thrill I experienced from running. Fast forward a few years to 2021 and I really tried to completely run the 5k distance (I quit training just shy of actual completion – ahh!). It is difficult to describe the breakthrough I had mentally while running. Ever since, I have been wanting to push through and actually run the entire 5k distance.
Running is a healthy habit I enjoy adding to other healthy habits that I have been trying to incorporate in my life this year. You can read about some healthy snack ideas I am eating here.
How’s it going?
In a word? Slow. To be honest, my body feels different at 45 then it did at 42 and 35. I have aches now in places that I’m not sure if I should or if that is just middle age. Currently, my left hip hurts while running. I’m using the C25K app (Couch to 5K) and very much appreciate the prompts it gives me to alternate between times of walking and running. I need that prompting to keep going. Left on my own, I’m not sure I would follow through.
Another support I have realized is crucial for my completion? My dogs. Taking my labradoodle and poodle along with me on my walks/runs helps me ignore any pain or discomfort I might have while I pay attention to them.
These are similar to the running shoes I wear.
*As an Amazon Associate, I am eligible to earn commission on any viable links.*What are the benefits?
Even if my body has pain or discomfort, I truly feel better physically and mentally when I complete a C25K session. My dogs also get the benefit of multiple times a week exersise. I’m halfway through my training and feel like completing my goal is a real possibility. I like that I have given myself the whole year to complete this goal.
Here lately my kids have joined me on my “walks” and I love having their company. We usually go out in the evenings and while it is still hot, it is better than in the heat of the day.
Stay tuned for my updates on this goal! Do you have a similar goal for this year? If so, it’s June – how are you progressing? I would love to hear from you 🙂
