I heard an interesting report on the radio the other day, about alzheimer’s being linked to not enough sleep and too much sleep. If that’s the case, does it mean we’re all in trouble? After all, how do you strike the right balance? Being a parent means sleep deprivation, and when you do manage to get a sleep-in to catch up, are you then getting too much sleep on that one night? Do we really need to catch up, or do we just train ourselves to only need six hours sleep a night?
As for balance in other areas of life – almost impossible! Healthy eating versus treating yourself, work versus family life, socialising versus the social media network. It’s all a balancing act, one which many of us feel we’re losing all of the time in this crazy world. Most of us are required to work ten hours a day, sometimes more if you count commuting time. How then can we fit in seven or eight hours sleep, family time, excercise time, couple time, me time, social media time and real time friends into the other hours of the day?
Somethings gotta give, right? What’s it to be? I forgot to mention fresh air for the sake of fresh air. If you’ll excuse the cliche, when was the last time you stopped to smell the roses? When did you last take a walk on the beach for the fresh air and not to lose the extra pounds you put on when you ate that box of chocolates for an energy boost after not getting enough sleep because you just had to stay up late to finish that report/send that email/update your facebook status? That question was crammed, wasn’t it? But that’s the way our lives have become.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could get our work and commuting time down to eight hours? Imagine what we could do with the extra hours. I remember a time when I wouldn’t turn out the light until I got to the end of a chapter. Now I fall asleep reading while trying to get to the end of the page, never mind the chapter. I also remember a time when I was able to allocate time to everything. Now it’s juggling ten balls in the air while riding a unicycle.
One area of my life where I have the balance right is with excercise. It’s easier to find twenty minutes of an evening to put on an excercise video and jump around the living room than it is to find two hours to commute to and from a gym and spend time there. Of course, that often means having a child swinging out of me as I try to balance in the pose of a tree, but sometimes they join in and copy me, and that ends up being quality family time as well as excercise time.
Someday the rest of my life will be balanced too! Any tips you could give me on striking the right balance in life will be much appreciated.
yvonnemcevaddy 