A balanced look back at life in 2003... and forward to 2010

In May of 2003, "Smart Money" magazine ran an article by Chris Taylor called "Balancing Act." I came across this article while clearing out my files, recently, and was struck especially by the implications of the first paragraph.

"First came the market correction. Now, the life correction. Overstressed and overworked, Americans are overhauling how they live, finding more time for themselves, and their families."

He goes on to say after the market turmoil of 2003, that "things have changed."

To which I say... oh, really?

Oh my goodness, here we are again!

I believe that stressful times are a good time to reevaluate what you are doing, and whether changes need to be made. There is more willingness to take on personal change if the balance of risk and benefit seem worthwhile. Most people are not willing to let go of the "good" to try for "great!" But, most people are willing to let go of "awful" to try for "better." It is an easier decision to make.

For a lot of people, in good economy or bad, there are "awful" circumstances that must be overcome. When the economy is "awful" then the whole theme of balanced living stops being a personal journey and becomes (for a while) a trend worthy of some media attention or commentary.

However, for each person, it will always be a personal journey. You are not a trend, but you do have choices to make every day about what goals and tasks to pursue that are influenced by what goes on in the world. Every day, you get to decide where to put your time and energy. You decide what kind of work to do, when to rest, when to connect with other people, when to have fun.

The need for each person to make these decisions with thought and care is still the same as it ever was. When living is stressful, use that as a lever to lift your thinking. What else might be possible? Explore. You will be well on your way to taking action in a positive direction, and that is still what the whole balancing act is about.

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Copyright @ 2009, Catherine E. White, permission is granted for this article to be redistributed and shared with others in its entirety as long as links and attribution are maintained.
Catherine E. White is president of Llamagraphics, Inc., developer of Life Balance™ software for Mac OS X, Windows, Palm OS and iPhone. Life Balance provides a structure for your goals, projects and tasks that is priority driven, so you can to make better decisions about how to use your discretionary time. To learn more, please visit http://www.llamagraphics.com/