The wife and I got away for a week out of the country back in August. We hadn’t been anywhere for nearly three years, and I thought I was going to go stir crazy if we didn’t get on a plane. That week was blissful, and it was all relaxation. I think I looked at email twice that week, and I didn’t think about it any other times. It was just time away, and time that was needed to recharge a bit.
Since we’ve been back, I am once again working most of the time. There is little time to for me to write, read, or relax. For anyone who hasn’t figured me out yet, reading and writing are my relaxation tools. I wouldn’t know what to do if I couldn’t write anymore. If something happened to my vision (which is not great, anyway), I would have to learn Braille PDQ. I can’t imagine my life with books in it.
I am well behind on my usual reading pace for the year because I have taken on (possibly) more than I can handle work-wise. I am handling it, but it is coming at a cost to other activities in my life. That is not having a balance, and my wife has pointed out (delicately) that I am doing too much work. I agree with her. I am not just my job, but it is important to me to be able to contribute financially to the household. That first part is what I am forgetting lately.
As we race towards the end of the year, I am starting to reflect back on what I have been doing with myself, and I am finding that balance is more elusive than I had hoped.