The constant balancing act

For those of you who work, be it part-time or full-time, you know the constant balancing act you face, each hour, day, week, month and year. You make choices and take shortcuts to make ends meet, but there are times when things are "out of balance." Unfortunately this doesn't normally happen where the "home or personal life" is the one taking up more of your time. Instead your "work or professional" life takes up more than it should.



In general I think I am pretty good at this. I put strong parameters in place around my time in the office, travel schedule and other areas that allow me to keep the balance. But there are times and the last couple of weeks have been one of those windows in time. The combination of my book launch, a family bat mitzvah, peak recruiting season and my group president in town have created the perfect storm. In the last two weeks I have had 2 book events at night, a work dinner for Michigan recruiting to host, a women's event at my house, a work dinner with my group president, and an evening event at Ben's school where I volunteered (as they are few and far between so I try to help when I can).



That means 6 evenings away from the kids. While they have definitely bonded with Dad, I miss them. In most cases I was home before bed time and got to see them, or they were home with me in the case of my event at my home. But that is just not the same as our family nights at home. We love our family dinners, truly cherish them. We talk, laugh and sing together. I learn about their days and what made them happy or sad. I get to talk to my husband (sometimes :). All of this is missed, even when it is just a two hour dinner away.

I know with the holidays coming I will get that balance back. Things will slow down and I will weather the storm. Until then I cherish the time I have with them, make the most of weekends and look forward to my time off in December.