Safari: The Elusive Work-Life Balance
I have embarked upon a journey, and I invite you to join me on this trip. I've dreamed of going on a safari since I was a young teen and read Man is Prey. I know, I'm sick. The stories of man-eating jackels and tigers and lions intrigued me. Why would humans go to these places, put themselves in such danger, and sometimes go armed with nothing more than a camera? And would I myself traverse the plains of Africa to see such things for myself? Why, yes. Yes, I would, thank you very much. I think it's the idea of seeing things, adding to the file cabinet of photographic images in my head, cataloging those experiences for future reference.
But I digress. Given the economy and the sad state of my checking account, the journey on which I am now embarking is much less exotic than an African safari, but what I seek is as elusive as getting a close up picture of a lioness and her cubs. I seek that rarest of rare, elusive, shy individual who has achieved work-life balance. I hope to someday meet a person who has actually done it. If you know someone who has, give her (there is no doubt in my mind that if anyone can do it, it's a woman) my email address and ask her to get in contact with me.
In the meantime, I am trying to reach that balance myself. I'm packed for the trip, ready and rearin' to go. I recently started a new job (and, WOW, what a difference that has made in my life already!) to pay the bills. My goal was to lower my stress level, and put myself in a more stable financial position, while positioning my family financially for the future. I'm only on my third week of the job, but that part of my plan seems to be working quite well. As anyone who works outside the home and who also desires to write (or has a similar dream), we must do so much more than the typical "work-life" balancing act. For most women, that balance is similar to standing at the apex of a teeter totter, with her employer/job on one end and her family/home on the other. I find myself at the apex of a 3-armed beast of a teeter-totter. I have the employer/family on one arm, my family/home on another, and my CCWG/writing on yet another. As soon as I start to get everything balanced, someone drops a feather on one of the arms and that is enough to tip the whole thing off kilter.
So, where do I stand now? As I said, the employer/job arm is pretty stable at the moment, but it does require "extra" right now because it's new. I am still in the legal field, but now I am working for a big educational institution as opposed to the small private firm arena that I have been in for the past 14 years. Big change, but a welcome one. It feels good to be back in education again. Simple things like the campus mail system are met with a smile, because it feels like an old friend. The family/home arm needs attention now. Summer school is in full swing, so my DH & I are splitting taxi duty. And the grass is growing like crazy, the horses need new fence built, and I just plain like being outside. The writing group/writing arm is waving up in the air like a geeky 8 year old kid dying for the teacher to call on her (yeah, that was me . . . ). We are working on an anthology, similar to Bridges, and I am woefully behind with it. I haven't kept my website up to date (obviously), and my own writing has taken a backseat to everything else. I am fighting the frustration right now, because I have accepted the responsibility of working on the anthology, but my heart is not in it. It involves a lot of time, which is in woefully short supply, and, honestly, I feel that I should be focusing on my own serious writing with the goal of publication.
Oh! Side note: I went and heard Linda Laddspeak last week. I am reading Head to Head right now, and am LOVING it. I love her main character, and the serial killer angle is always intriguing.
And now, I've got to pay attention to that wagging arm. Thanks for taking this virtual break with me, and if you catch a glimpse of the elusive creature I seek, please, please let me know that she is not extinct and that there is still hope for me!
Happy hunting,
Elle
But I digress. Given the economy and the sad state of my checking account, the journey on which I am now embarking is much less exotic than an African safari, but what I seek is as elusive as getting a close up picture of a lioness and her cubs. I seek that rarest of rare, elusive, shy individual who has achieved work-life balance. I hope to someday meet a person who has actually done it. If you know someone who has, give her (there is no doubt in my mind that if anyone can do it, it's a woman) my email address and ask her to get in contact with me.
In the meantime, I am trying to reach that balance myself. I'm packed for the trip, ready and rearin' to go. I recently started a new job (and, WOW, what a difference that has made in my life already!) to pay the bills. My goal was to lower my stress level, and put myself in a more stable financial position, while positioning my family financially for the future. I'm only on my third week of the job, but that part of my plan seems to be working quite well. As anyone who works outside the home and who also desires to write (or has a similar dream), we must do so much more than the typical "work-life" balancing act. For most women, that balance is similar to standing at the apex of a teeter totter, with her employer/job on one end and her family/home on the other. I find myself at the apex of a 3-armed beast of a teeter-totter. I have the employer/family on one arm, my family/home on another, and my CCWG/writing on yet another. As soon as I start to get everything balanced, someone drops a feather on one of the arms and that is enough to tip the whole thing off kilter.
So, where do I stand now? As I said, the employer/job arm is pretty stable at the moment, but it does require "extra" right now because it's new. I am still in the legal field, but now I am working for a big educational institution as opposed to the small private firm arena that I have been in for the past 14 years. Big change, but a welcome one. It feels good to be back in education again. Simple things like the campus mail system are met with a smile, because it feels like an old friend. The family/home arm needs attention now. Summer school is in full swing, so my DH & I are splitting taxi duty. And the grass is growing like crazy, the horses need new fence built, and I just plain like being outside. The writing group/writing arm is waving up in the air like a geeky 8 year old kid dying for the teacher to call on her (yeah, that was me . . . ). We are working on an anthology, similar to Bridges, and I am woefully behind with it. I haven't kept my website up to date (obviously), and my own writing has taken a backseat to everything else. I am fighting the frustration right now, because I have accepted the responsibility of working on the anthology, but my heart is not in it. It involves a lot of time, which is in woefully short supply, and, honestly, I feel that I should be focusing on my own serious writing with the goal of publication.
Oh! Side note: I went and heard Linda Laddspeak last week. I am reading Head to Head right now, and am LOVING it. I love her main character, and the serial killer angle is always intriguing.
And now, I've got to pay attention to that wagging arm. Thanks for taking this virtual break with me, and if you catch a glimpse of the elusive creature I seek, please, please let me know that she is not extinct and that there is still hope for me!
Happy hunting,
Elle
So glad to see you back to writing. I've missed your blog updates!
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