Good morning everyone. It’s been a couple of days since my last blog post, so now seems like a fitting time to write another one. Today’s topic, as you may have figured out by the title, is going to be about balance. In other words, juggling multiple things on your to-do list in a way that doesn’t make you loose it. It’s kind of funny that I’m writing about this during the summer, which is typically a more stagnant time of the year for me. Nonetheless, I’ve found lately that I’ve been having a harder time keeping everything in balance than I did during the school year. With unlimited free time, it’s a little easy to loose focus of goals and responsibilities. I haven’t done near as much writing for my book as I had hoped and I really need to study more to take my permit test again. Though I’m writing about balanced life, this reminds me a little of an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air when Will’s mom called him and asked if he was eating a balanced diet. He held up a pizza and a sandwich, balancing them, and answered yes

Here’s a GIF to illustrate this

If only balancing life were as easy as holding up food.

Anyways, back to my point, as I got a little off topic here. I think that in some ways, it’s easier to get off balance in the summer than the school year, as homework takes up a good percentage of time during school. In the summer, it’s pretty much up to you to balance your time, and not spend too much of it watching 80s TV and reading blogs (confession time!). Thus, I’m going to come up with a couple of ways to keep life balanced (And try to follow them myself!)

1. Make small goals. You can’t expect to accomplish everything in one day. If you do that, you’ll either procrastinate everything or get worn out trying to do impossible tasks. In my case, this would look like writing a couple of pages in my novel a day rather than trying to write the whole thing in one day. It would look like starting on the book for my summer reading list and doing a little at a time, rather than trying to read the whole thing at once. If I make small goals for the day, I’ll be able to complete them, feel accomplished, and still have time to relax and read my new Karen Kingsbury book.

2. Be conscientious of how much time you’re on the computer. I’ll be honest. This is a hard one for me. In modern day life, it seems that everything we do is online. I have my novel to write, my blog, email, other people’s blogs…You name it, it’s on the computer. Nonetheless, I’ve noticed that when I’m on the computer for too long, I tend to get stressed and somewhat sluggish. Thus, I really have to be careful about that in the summer, as it’s very easy to spend hours attached to the screen without realizing where the time has gone. If you have the same problem, try to think of hobbies and pass-times that you have offline, such as reading a book, watching a movie, hanging out with friends, or spending time with your pet (In my case, a cat).

3. Take some time to relax. As much as we all have things that we want (and need) to do, it’s important to remember to set aside some time to relax as well. I have a tendency to push and push myself until I burn out, but my mom reminded me yesterday how I only have a little bit of time left to enjoy summer before school starts and things get crazy again. This year, on top of classes, homework, and working towards my writing/songwriting goals, I’m going to get a part time job (Which I’m super psyched about). Thus, I’m sure that things are going to be in constant go-mode come the end of August. I’m willing to bet that all of you out there are busy during the school year too, so I urge you to take some time to enjoy the summer. While it’s important to remain productive in the summer, it’s OK to take some time to read that new book or watch a good old episode of Who’s The Boss (An eighties show that shows yet another example of how my taste in TV isn’t exactly current).

To conclude, life is all about balance. You can’t work around the clock and you can’t relax 24/7. You have to balance work, goals, relationships, and chill-time.

As the Bible says, “There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens…” Ecclesiastes 3:1