As I transition and adapt to my new job, I am learning and realizing more about myself than I had realized I would - for example, I have always been an idea person. I love to brainstorm and collaborate on new ideas and I love to be a part of putting the ideas into practice. The flip side of this is that I'm not fond of missing out on opportunities to collaborate, and I don't like to say no. It only took a week straight of not having time to eat lunch for me to realize I need to carve out time to eat each day...or it might not happen (lunch and prep are great times to meet and collaborate with classroom teachers!). Did I mention I'm an extrovert?!
So, I'm striving to find balance.
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A balance between time to collaborate and time to work, create, and complete tasks on my own. A balance between saying yes and saying no -- or, maybe, I can't at that time.
Balance between learning and reflecting;
gathering new ideas and implementing;
big ideas and the details.
The hardest area for me to find balance has been in setting limits with work after hours to honor the time I want to dedicate to my home life (I love to cook, but haven't been able to during the week for a while....and there's been a mounting pile of laundry staring me down for the past several days...). I am striving to find balance.
How do you find balance? How to you maintain it? Is there an app for that?
Thanks for sharing your ideas and comments below!
Great post - I'm struggling with this right now as I stare down conferences, report cards, the start of coaching, proposal deadlines... not to mention my giant marking pile!
ReplyDeleteI attended a mindfulness retreat this summer, so I try my best to continue with the practice and come back to my breathing, just for a minute, just a few times throughout the day to help maintain perspective. It also helps if, on my to-do lists, I include things like "cook supper" or "call mom" - that way I know I make time for non-work things! Lastly, I try and call it a night at a reasonable hour. A good night's sleep makes all the difference :)
Let me know if you find an app to help... I'd definitely be interested in that!
I am also searching for balance myself. I completely identify with this post. Just before reading your post, I replied no to an email requesting that I head an initiative. This weekend, I am going to set aside some time to figure out a more reasonable daily calendar so I don't feel like I work all the time. In my new calendar, I am going to include down time (to de-stress), fun time, bedtime, exercise, and time for meditation. I like Heather's idea of including little things that one can look over. I also need to include time for #ooe13 in this calendar.
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