Balanced Life Check-in

It's been a little over a month since school has started and now our mid first quarter progress reports are due this week.  I thought this would be a great time to check in to see how we are all doing at keeping a balanced work and "other" life.  

It's amazing how I can love what I do so much, yet, as the year progresses, my stress level just seems to rise by the day.  Every day, my To Do list is longer than the day before even though I am consistently getting work done.  I'm honestly not even sure how that is possible.  So how can we make sure that we are taking care of ourselves as we help to support our students, parents and communities?

I think what it truly boils down to is making sure to have some down time that is not associated with work at all.  That may seem simple to many.  To others, that may seem like a tall order.  One thing I do try to do each evening is to wind down for an hour or two before I plan to go to sleep.  One of my favorite ways to do that is to watch a TV show before bed, however, that comes with a caveat.  Lately, I've been trying to make that TV show a comedy. The biggest reason for this is that although I love forensics shows, many of them can be downright depressing, and I am trying to relieve stress not cause more.  Another downtime hobby of mine is my daily yoga practice which I've had for over 10 years.  Yoga is a great way to exercise (I consider my exercise separately and workout 6 days a week), but for me it is more about the mindfulness and spirituality connection.  Over the past year or so I have sporadically added meditation to my practice and I believe that if that was a more regular addition, my stress level would benefit extremely.  

In my next blog post, we'll talk about how to make some of these good habits regular part of life to help find the balance that they can help us with.  Do you have any ways to help wind down after a long day or any habits that help to help relieve stress?

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