I washed my windows this week. They pop out for cleaning, so it’s not as hard as it could be. But I am pretty sure it’s been 8 years since I have washed them. It’s fun to see the spring colors through clear windows. It was a sense of accomplishment.
As I was cleaning them, I wondered why it has been so long when it is not difficult or particularly time consuming.
I also cleared out a stack of paperwork this week that has been growing on my kitchen counter for years, also not difficult or particularly time consuming.
I’ve been in the middle of a job transition for awhile now. My focus has been on building relationships with the people with whom I work and learning the details of the job. That is no small task.
It’s not that there haven’t been plenty of important moments in my personal life over the last few years. High school graduations, a wedding, and this week both of my children graduated from college. Life has been moving full speed.
But I have been out of balance. Work has taken more time than tending to things like cleaning the windows. And that’s okay.
A friend taught me my favorite definition of balance. It is having enough time for all of the things you’d like to be doing in your life. And for me, I like my work. It has purpose and meaning and impact. And I like my personal life. It has fun and friends and enough time to see movies and watch TV.
I’d call that balance.
Life has seasons. Sometimes you can’t clean the windows because you are too busy chasing toddlers. Sometimes you can’t clean the windows because you are too busy transitioning to a new job. And sometimes you can’t clean the windows because at the end of day who really cares if the windows are clean.
I love this season of my life. I have loved all the seasons of my life. They pass too quickly, so we should focus on enjoying them as they are.
Be That Person 
I love this, Heather. I look forward to your blog!!
Thanks Roberta!
Hello Heather: That’s an interesting interpretation of balance. It is one I shall give further thought to. As an alternative consideration, I’d like to ask you if balance is more an endeavor, throughout our lives, of reconciling the impossibility of doing everything we want to do, all the things that could make us happy? That may sound pessimistic. It isn’t meant to be. Rather, is balance a coming to terms with a narrower, but realizable, set of happy endeavors?
Thanks for your post!
Best wishes,
Stuart
I don’t think that sounds pessimistic at all. It sounds grounded in an accurate interpretation of the limits of time and energy and capacity. Accepting that is likely key to happiness. Thank you for the thoughts.