Balance in 2021: April

What a fast month April has been! It's been a roller coaster of a month as well, with snow and summer-like temperatures and some crazy work stuff. Keeping Balance in mind has been so helpful as things got hectic, and balancing my work life with my non-work life has been particularly important, perhaps even more so given that my office is now at home.

Last week ended up being the kind of week that would have sent me into a full-blown meltdown in the past. I got hit with a big work project with a tight deadline. I had the mammogram call-back. I had a board meeting one evening. I had scheduled a day off on Friday to hang out with Rainbow that I considered canceling. But through it all, I remembered to keep things balanced. Though I did work a little late one evening (because our planned dinner did not require a lot of cooking time and thus I had the time to spare), but otherwise I stuck to my normal work schedule. I made sure to take my "lunch" break each day to go for a walk -- because I know that the daily physical activity is good not only for my long-term health but also for relieving my stress level. I took time each evening to knit or spin and read for pleasure so that I could switch my work brain off. And even when I was in full work mode, I made sure to take frequent breaks, even if it was just to go to the bathroom or throw in a load of laundry. You might think that this would draw things out, but in the end I finished the project before the end of the day on Thursday, I took off Friday as planned, and in general I felt less stress overall than I would have thought. Maybe I'm on to something here, don't you think?

I've also crossed three more things off my 21 in 2021 list. Although when I put "Try three new meatless recipes" on my list I was thinking mainly about dinner entrees, it occurred to me that I wasn't that specific and that a lot of the baking that Rainbow and I have been doing really does count. We've obviously tried a challah recipe and made it several times, we made the cookies for Passover, and I recently made my great-grandmother's noodle kugel recipe. I'm sure there will be more new recipes tried before the year is out, too. I also read a collection of poetry this month (and purchased another one that's now on my nightstand) and, just yesterday, finished reading one of the books that Rainbow is reading for school (but I'll be talking about that tomorrow).

Thanks to Carolyn for hosting us for these monthly One Little Word updates! I will be back tomorrow with a knitting and reading update.