Honestly most of my life I've been great at keeping a healthy balance between work and personal life. Until....there always is an until in most peoples stories about why they just can't keep a good balance! Go ahead if you're struggling with balance just say to yourself all was going great until___________ blah blah blah. I dare you!
Here's my until story....
We opened our own brokerage in 2006. Looking back it seemed like a fantastic idea, and it was in many ways. We found a perfect office, set it up, decorated it and opened our doors. It was all very exciting! Agents joined us and we created a lot of business and buzz around town, hosted a lot of chamber events, network mixers and classes at the office. Things were headed in a great direction and then.....the market crashed in October of 2008. BOOM. Pretty much we were dead in the water with absolutely nothing going on and no income but a heck of a lot of expenses. Now what? Well that's exactly when my UNTIL moment reared it's ugly head. I had a total lack of balance between work and personal life. I was so busy trying to figure out how and what to do that I stopped hiking and taking care of myself almost entirely. To say I was stressed puts it midly. I also messed up my thyroid which looking back was all stress related. Like I said, total lack of balance.
Fast forward a bit and we did figure out how and what to do for the business to keep it open and move forward. We got rid of the expensive office and most of the staff and cut back on expenses as best we could. We also decided to hire an internet coach that we had for an entire year (expensive but well worth it). I learned how to create business online via ebooks, landing pages, adword, sales pages, all kinds of stuff. She also kicked my butt and said start blogging on ActiveRain. So I did what she told me to do and the rest of that story is history!
But....did I ever figure out the balance thing again? Not really, not until last fall. I honestly kind of sucked at balance for quite some time. I am not proud to say that but it's true. I woke up one morning last fall and said.....I'm sick of not hiking anymore. I WANT MY LIFE BACK! But even thou I wanted it didn't mean I could do so - just like that. I had some foot issues (blah blah blah) but I made my mind up I was going to find a way - no matter what. Determined is what I guess you'd call that attitude! I found a doctor to help with the feet, found some hiking boots that worked with the feet, and off I went. I started very slow at first, and it hurt but I built my way back to 4 to 5 miles of hiking a day.
Back to the balance thing....
Did I feel quilty while out hiking all that time instead of working? You bet I did and it took me probably a good 3 or 4 months to stop that nonsense thinking. I mean seriously how stupid is that thinking! As kids used to say years ago - TOTALLLY STUPID!! I grew up as an athlete and played sports all the way through college, on teams and captain of teams. After college I continued on with sports and added on hiking, golfing and skiing. I never had a weight issue until........there's that word again! Until...I lost my balance between work and personal life. Will I do that ever again. NO. I will not.
I absolutely love heading out to the mountain preserve every morning to spend an hour or two hiking and being in nature, surrounded by beauty. And by the way I have no issues with taking my phone out hiking. If I need to handle a little businesss it's easy peasy without interruting my hiking time. My client's know that if they 'hear crunching going on' I'm out hiking and they wish they were with me! I once again have my life back in order and I'm not giving it up - ever!
All Was Great Until.... Balancing Work and Lifee
Featured
