Drinking out of a Fire Hose

Well, the theme for my life lately has been balance.  I feel as though I am always struggling for balance.  Am I making sure that we get an appropriate amount of school done without making my kids feel like I am a slave driver?  Do I get enough time away or do my kids feel like I’m always gone?  Have I got enough rest and still got mount o’launder-us under control?  Are we all eating well?  Exercising? Balance seems so elusive and yet I see that there are times when it is more smooth sailing than others.

In the last two weeks, I feel like I’ve been completely toppled off of my teeter –totter.  Preparing for the great and crazy “conference season” always does that to me.  This is part of the balancing act, too: expecting to be knocked off kilter during seasons when the wind is blowing particularly hard and there is much to be done.  I have to remember to just get back up again.

A thought to share: it does get easier, this habit building thing.  The more I practice, the more I can find a groove that is slowly being dug in the tracks of my well-worn road of life.  I am reminded that Charlotte Mason writes a lot about building good habits and how they keep us from being run off of the rails of our lives.  I am still learning!  My kids are still learning. 

Are you striving for balance?  Keep up the fight!  It will become easier as time goes on. Remember that the bigger the chunk is that you bite off, the longer it will take to digest it.  If you want to gain more balance in your life, start with little bite-sized chunks and be content to make small gains.  Do you want to be healthier?  Start by adding exercise to your school routine once or twice a week.  Do you feel over-run by the noise of your busy home?  Set a timer once a day for 15 minutes of mommy time that can’t be interrupted so that you can read. (When my little cherubs interrupt this sacred pause, I often reset the clock.)  Know that we are all in this struggle together.  For me, right now, the struggle for health centres around getting a better sleep routine.  Conference season = drinking out of a fire hose of intensity so I need to learn to turn it off by 11pm.  That’s not been happening lately!  (So I’d better wrap this musing up soon.)

But first, I want to wish you all well as you strive for balance in your own life and the season you are facing. 

And if you find yourself at a homeschool conference in the near future, check and see if Maple Tree is there and come have a little visit Under the Maple Tree.  It’s always so much better to see people in real life rather than virtually.  I can’t wait to share with you some of the exciting new books that we have and some of the yummy seminars that I am pumped up about sharing with you.  I’m sticking to conferences in Ontario this year (= struggle for balance, remember?) so if you are out of my range then feel free to call or drop me a note to chat about life or books or homeschoolish kind of things.  All that is for later though – I’d better get some rest! 

Blessings,

Cori

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