Ballast is essential for proper buonyancy. But too much ballast makes you sink. Not enough ballast and you ride too high. And of course you have to distribute that ballast properly so that you are balanced.
Work is the ballast in my life. I need work. Too much work - not a good thing. Not enough work - not a good thing. Work creeping into personal time leads to imbalance.
Today - well there is certainly too much ill distributed ballast in my life. Unfortunately I have to do the work before I can toss that ballast overboard....
Today - I have a list. And it isn't a nice list. For one thing PC stuff is on it... Honestly how one person can be so difficult - yet so absolutely clueless as to the burden he imposes on all that interact with him is mind boggling. And of course having to double check my assistant's work is getting annoying...especially when I have to send it back to her to redo or send followup emails - that is more work for me...
Oh well - why PC does what he does is not my concern. What is my concern is to get his crap of my desk permanently. And then I will NEVER have to interact with him EVER again. And the management stuff is coming together. These were new portfolios that I received in January - they are almost in shape and the work redistributed to attorneys I trust - to where the work will be on autopilot soon.
My reward to myself - as soon as I get this stuff out the door, I am ordering my new bedding set. I bought my old set after The X moved out for the last time 5 years ago. Time to redecorate. Once the sheets, duvet cover, etc arrives, I will pick paint colors for the bedroom and window treatments. I picked out the headboard I want a year ago - will order that one at the end of the month. And then lamps and pictures to hang on the wall - maybe a little water fountain thingy. My birthday present to myself is to have my bedroom be an oasis of phoneless and laptopless peace by my birthday. I still have a few months.
Today I am taking a break from working out. I need to give my poor muscles a time to recover from the abuse I put them through last week.
I am looking forward to taking all of July off. Other than management stuff - which should be on autopilot - I am not taking on any work with deadlines before the end of August.
Life is improperly ballasted today...so the focus is getting rid of the excess. Life is however good - just need to make achieving balance an affirmative goal - not a side thing that I hope will happen someday.
I really need an entire month off - not b/c I don't have work but b/c I choose to take that month off. I feel like I have dealing with different types of stressors for almost 10 years now. Yes, I count the M years in that time.
I need a month where I just relax and let things just go for a little while. Where I have the time to lie in the grass under a tree and gaze up at the clouds in the sky through leaves that are rustling in the breeze w/o any sense of time and think of nothing b/c there is nothing to think about.
My weekend was OK. Worked a bit on some presentations I'm doing this week to some local students. (it's my effort to help out with the icky stuff that went down last week). However, nothing is without lessons. I have been reminded what an idiot I can be. I'm writing lectures all weekend and the program director (who is the one who should be sweating right now) was out at the movies, going to dinner, etc..... I know this because she called to inform me my time block on Wed. is 5 hours. I'm not even getting paid for this. I told her 2 hours is plenty for this week, she's welcome to fill the rest how she sees fit.
An idiot. But no more. I do things on my terms.
I agree about needing a month off every now and then. Each time I've changed jobs (which I do frequently ) I take 4-6 weeks off in between. The new employer usually has some problem with my inability to start sooner, but I don't budge.
I told her 2 hours is plenty for this week, she's welcome to fill the rest how she sees fit.
An idiot. But no more. I do things on my terms.
Good for you!
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I agree about needing a month off every now and then. Each time I've changed jobs (which I do frequently ) I take 4-6 weeks off in between. The new employer usually has some problem with my inability to start sooner, but I don't budge.
I love time off!
Other than that, I got nothin'.
In my engineering days - I use to at least 2-3 weeks off every year and then there were weekends and then there were holidays!
The whole legal career has been killing me. I too changed firms frequently and always took time off and did a nice vacation between jobs!
These past five years I lost my sense of direction for awhile, financially things were tight for awhile, and I bit off more than I could chew... This year - it is time to get my life back on track and enjoy it a little more.
The only problem is that I allowed myself to get so burned out - I am literally crawling towards that Houston trip. And I have four things to finish so I can go to Houston with a sense of peace. Then, I am very sluggish and my brain is operating in supremely slow mode I am hoping Houston gives me enough energy to make it till July 1st.
I have achieved one of my goals. All physical manifestations of angst/stress have been removed from my body! The yoga class was a little too easy - quite change from last Monday where I could barely move in yoga b/c of stress related frozen joints. This is a hatha yoga 1 class. I need a level 2 class and will definately go to the vinyasa class on Saturday.
I have not lost much weight - maybe a pound at most. BUT a pound a week is normal for me. I am altering body composition - my clothes are fitting better.
Now of course work... Well it is still there!
However, the Houston trip is my carrot on the stick that keeps me moving forward.
I finished reviewing the first of PC's work. The man is a bigger fool than I thought. While he sent 9 voice message and/or emails arguing about why I was wrong. He actually did incorporate the changes I asked him too! I approved the draft for filing minutes ago.
I am tired. And I need my laptopless trip to Houston in a big way. I went to the Resort for my last laptopless vacation exactly a year ago from the Houston trip!
I have a lot of work to finish before I leave for Houston. But work is a necessary ballast. I am slowly getting better at properly ballasting life.
Life is good - just ask my neck, shoulders,lower back, etc - they feel wonderful!
And another bonus - I thought I had lost a mock orange and a beauty berry shrub I planted last year. Today I saw signs of life! And my crab apple will be in full bloom tomorrow - perfect timing as my flowering pear is approaching the tail end of its flowering! And my Japanese Tree Lilac is very full this year. It looked very sad last year - I put that one in two years ago and thought that it might not make it. It is suppose to bloom in July - we will see if it actually does...
Which can be maintained. I hate those loose weight quick by increasing the metabolism and other methods. We call it the hydroxycut rage. On the other note I have a friend a coach and I believe is juicing (HGH and Testostrone) but not doing the corresponding exercise (lazy man's muscle). I really noticed a change in his personality and we are watching his slide.
I've lifted, climbed, swam, and ran since Ford was president and your methods are benificial long term. When you will get to be my age you will witness people your age at a much lower health and energy level.
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laptopless trip to Houston
Just be on guard for the Iphonies or the pilotless palms. I hear they are thick in Houston.
Just follow the BBQ. You'll get there.
"All I want is a weeks pay for a day's work" Steve Martin
Hey AG You wrote in an earlier post on the current economic situation but I thought I'd share this. I remember the economic fallout from the Vietnam war and the oil crisis along with President Nixon's departure.
I agree with you it is not all happiness and flowers espicially if you have to forclose. I did in 85 after being laid off from my last factory job but I did not have kids in tow and that makes a huge difference. Any retraction is a painful process.
These figures generally do not show the real picture as the unemployment was 10% in 1982 and in central Illinois it was 20% but usually they preceed actual good or bad times as we know it.
This is the S&P 500.
U. S. Economy Recessionary Contractions since World War II (NBER)
Peak Trough Total Return of the S&P 500 November 1948 October 1949 + 4.12 % July 1953 May 1954 + 27.57 % August 1957 April 1958 - 6.51 % April 1960 February 1961 + 18.40 % December 1969 November 1970 - 3.45 % November 1973 March 1975 - 17.90 % January 1980 July 1980 + 16.14 % July 1981 November 1982 + 14.66 % July 1990 March 1991 + 7.64 % March 2001 November 2001 - 7.18 %
Liars figure but figures don't. You can conclude from this data anything but no worries.
Hope you get all your work done so Houston can be more fun.
"All I want is a weeks pay for a day's work" Steve Martin
And the management stuff is coming together. These were new portfolios that I received in January - they are almost in shape and the work redistributed to attorneys I trust - to where the work will be on autopilot soon.
This is a hatha yoga 1 class. I need a level 2 class and will definately go to the vinyasa class on Saturday.