Okay, I think I've blogged about how I can only handle three things at a time. Three big things. So since work and family take up the two top spots, I usually one have one spot available for something else.
For a while now, my main hobby has been writing. And since it takes so much time to write, revise, edit, be in a critique group, attend and plan conferences, etc. writing has taken that third spot almost exclusively.
Until last year, when I decided I needed to get in control of my weight. So meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, and going to the gym took over the third spot. It takes a lot of time and mental energy to think about food, what you'll eat, and how many calories you've taken in/expended all the time.
A lot.
And that's time and energy I used to devote to writing. Yes, I lost 55 pounds, but as soon as writing edged back into the third spot, 15 of those have come back.
One would argue that I simply don't have room to do both writing and healthy living at the same time.
But I have to have time, energy, and room for both. I'm currently trying to figure out how to make two things fill one spot, and to do both well.
It's not easy, and I don't know all the answers, but I can already see that exercising and all that stuff has to become part of just how I live, which will free up that third spot again for writing.
But that's really hard too, and I still haven't made the complete transition. Nor do I really know how to make it. But I'm working on it!
What three things fill your slots?
Oh yes! It can been exhausting planning out the meals and stuff. I know when other things get busy, that tends to slip off. Hopefully since you've been doing it for a year, it will become easier, second nature.
ReplyDeleteMy health -- including exercise and weight management -- definitely came last while I was working full time and writing. Because yes, family, work, and writing.
ReplyDeleteSince I left teaching, it has become family,writing, and exercise/health. I have not lost as many pounds as you -- wow -- and I know you look fantastic from the pix I've seen on FB. I am facing a birthday with a 0 in it next month, and it's a notorious one for seeing that waistline expand into the old tire. I really want to lose enough weight to look better in my clothes and not want to hide when people bring out cameras.
However, I know I'm stronger and more fit overall. (Last week's ski weekend proved that.) So weight loss or no weight loss, I feel healthier.
Leaving the stress of a job where I was miserable, unappreciated (by administrators, not students), and powerless helped too.
Family, Writing/Job, and the 3rd is a combo of health and church and STUFF. :-)
ReplyDeleteBeen trying to balance and juggle since high school . . . and I'm a few decades past high school!
Congratulations on the weight loss!
ReplyDeleteCrap, I have to go with six things - my wife, God, work, health, guitar playing, and social media stuff. (It helps to have clones.)
Three cheers for your weight loss.
ReplyDeleteI've got work, my Chipmunk and writing. I've been struggling on how to get weight control back in there, though I've made a decent start by working on my portion control. Now to figure out how to implement a little more and a little more as I go so I do feel like I'm taking time away from the big three things, rather sneak the weight control in as part of one of the others.
I hear you. I have been working on a healthy lifestyle since September. It has worked, but I have to find time to dedicate to exercise, and what I end up sacrificing is an hour I usually sat at the computer writing. I know the answer is to get up even earlier in the morning, but since I already get up an hour early, I haven't been able to force myself to do that yet. That's me. As for you, would it be possible to delegate some of your responsibilities?
ReplyDeleteI've been exercising more, fitting that in my schedule, but I know I need to do more health-wise. I've been writing about the same for a few years. I've been cutting back on taking the day job stuff home with me and trying to find shortcuts for those tasks.
ReplyDeleteI hear you! I find that if I am creating, my brain has absolutely no space for keeping track of food intake or taking the time to exercise. 60 pounds later, I find myself asking the same things as you - how to balance it all?
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