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Sunday, August 28, 2016

On Balancing and Cooking and Working

Jean Sexton muses:

Sometimes I think that life is a balancing act. How much can I do of this activity and still have time to do what I need to do? How much can I eat and still stay healthy? How little can I eat and still stay healthy? How much can I spend on "fun things" and still have for the necessities of life (and paying off medical bills is one of those necessities)? Balance, balance, balance seems to be the theme of my life now.

Cooking is one of those things where I must find balance. So many of my recipes are old ones and designed for a family of four where everyone is working hard. Some of my recipes are "add this ingredient until it looks right." Some recipes can only be cut down so far. Once you reach "one egg" you cannot really divide it any further. So to stay healthy, I am having to learn to trim back what I make. Can I make one potato's worth of potato salad? If I cannot trim the recipe any further, can I freeze it or give some of it away? It's a hard thing to rethink and health-wise I cannot afford to just eat all of the extras.

Working is another place where I am trying to find balance. All of my professional life I have worked far more than 40 hours a week. In North Carolina, I often ate at my desk (which I could do as I was salaried). If I had set a goal I needed to meet, I'd work until I met it. Sometimes I would start a project and look up to find I'd just worked 12 hours. Now that I had my brush with the Angel of Death, I want to try to have a life. But it is hard to break the habits of so many years. I am trying to take off at a reasonable hour so that I can eat at an earlier time than I have been (that also helps with my sleep). I am trying to take walks so that I can keep getting healthier. I am trying to let people tell me about problems rather than searching them them out at night. I've been reviewing more on review sites (a new-ish hobby) so I have more to do outside of work. And yes, I find myself fixing food rather than heating up a frozen meal.

So where is the balance point? I'm not sure. But I will keep hunting for the right point for me.