Week 6: Finding Balance

I have felt out of balance since the beginning of the year. I have been giving everything I've got to my job and have found little leftover for me, my partner, or anything else.

It's about to get crazier. And, I gotta say, I'm sick of it. I like change as much as anyone. Truly, I would get bored if it was the same old, same old all the time but seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Nothing at my job is predictable. (Except for the morons who get on my nerves consistently...don't even get me started down that path. There's this one chick who barely knows MS Office, couldn't write herself out of a paper bag, who thinks she could do my job and frequently tells her superiors that she does. Grrrrl please. Be careful what you wish for!).

At any rate, I was having a conversation with my boss (a lovely lady who has really taken me under her wing and has worked to mentor me on this path) last week and one thing she talked to me about was balance. She said that I need to find more balance and not to work such crazy hours. Yeah, a lot of what I do, I do because I am driven. I feel that I have a lot to prove (especially when I've got stupid biznatches, like I mentioned above, constantly snapping at my heels). And with all the changes that are constantly thrown at me, I really have to be flawless all the time. And, that takes time. More than 8 hours a day, that's for sure.

So, in an effort to find so balance, I'm going to set some some boundaries for myself. From now on, Mondays at 5pm is quitting time. There's a yoga class I want to take on Monday nights and to get there in time, I need to leave the office at 5pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm leaving the office no later than 5:30, because there's another yoga class I want to take. And, no more waking up at 5:30 in the morning and starting to work (usually the first thing I do is make coffee and open MS Outlook and start answering emails and working on open projects). No, I need to fit in my treadmill workout at that time.

I don't mind working hard...I'm just tired of killing myself for a job where I make $20k less than the market average and where I can't count on anyone or anything. I need to start looking at the big picture of my career. I need to consider that there's more out there for me. I don't want to wake up on my 47th birthday still feeling stressed out all the time, still 50 pounds overweight, and still exhausted.

I want to look like (and be able to do) this when I'm 83:

Betty Calman, 83 year old yoga instructor