Finding Balance

This blog was called The Juggling Act for a reason, because as a working Mom, you really have to find a way to have balance in your life in order to have a successful career, a good marriage and well-adjusted children.  I'm not saying I do it right, matter a fact, I question whether I'm succeeding most of the time.  What I've learned is that too much of a good thing, is never good.

I do have a successful career and I can honestly say, I love my job.  Part of my job is community involvement and I have several organizations that I am actively involved with which adds time away from the home to my calendar.  If you're not careful, the events and meetings you have to go to can get out of control and the next thing you know you have lost your balance.

Here's what I mean. . .in order to be good at my job, I have to feel like I'm a good mother, in order to be a good mother, I need to feel like I'm doing good at my job.  Get it, probably not, I don't always get it.  When I let my job consume my time, it takes away from my children and then I start to not feel good about myself and then nothing works right. At that point, I'm not the best I can be.  If I'm not careful, I can spend so much time doing family stuff that my time away from the office causes my work to suffer.  The unfortunate reality is that most of the time, it's our family that suffers not our work.  This is usually my case. 

A few months ago, I had been super busy with evening meetings and early meetings, basically meetings that crept into family time.  I just let it get out of control.  I was home with Aiden one day and totally exhausted.  My son said to me, "mama, why don't you smile anymore?"  My heart instantly broke and I knew something had to give.  I wasn't in a bad mood.  I was just exhausted and I realized my family was getting the leftover parts of me.   I took a hard long look at my calendar, prioritizing and even checking my motivation.  First, was it important that I be there or could someone else attend in my place.  I didn't have to do everything.  Second, was I going to these meetings because it was important to my work or because I love to socialize and I didn't want to miss out on anything. 

I feel like I have finally found my groove and you can not image how much better I feel about everything.  I have a sense of peace.  I can't be success at work, when I feel my children are missing out.  I still love my job and still want a successful career but when I don't feel like I'm being the best possible Mom, there's no way I can concentrate enough to be the best manager.  Hence, balance.  I know how hard it is to say, "no I can't make it tonight" or "can I send someone else?" but I also know how hard it is to live with the guilt of telling a little one you won't see them before bedtime again.  I chose balance because even good things in excess aren't good.  To much cake can be bad, to much food can be bad, and too much time away from family is really bad.   I think I could write a whole other blog on this topic.  This is what I think God meant when he said we must keep the Sabbath.