Achieving Balance

Have I achieved balance?  Yoga on the beach Carlsbad, CA

How do we achieve balance? How do we balance between our family life, work, religious life, and exercise and recreation? Right now I feel out of balance due to Josh's absence.  The things I value in my life are my family and spending time with them, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and my physical body since I teach yoga, ballet, and Zumba.  There have been times when I have been able to juggle them all and feel that I am doing each part justice but that is not always case because that is just life.  I normally do not ebb and flow very well, as evidenced by my "poor me" post of last week.  I struggle to keep everything under my control and tend to have breakdowns when things fall through the cracks.  Josh usually talks me through these breakdowns so it is doubly hard when he is not around.  Before Josh left, I made it a goal to keep my kids schedules the same as when he had been here.  I am really trying hard to stick to our daily routines and to not cut things out with the excuse that dad is gone.  This includes having family home evenings and our family MTC (Sunday morning scripture reading, Friend reading, and letter writing).  I was raised by a single mother (my father died from leukemia when I was five) and I have no illusions that I need a priesthood holder to continue with these practices.  My kids miss their dad but their lives have not been disrupted terribly so I think they are making it through ok.

But then I started thinking if I am truly balanced.  I do not think I am.  Most of the time I feel that I am drowning in my work and just trying to keep up.  I spend a lot of time planning lessons for yoga, ballet, Zumba, and my church calling as the Primary Chorister.  While I normally enjoy this preparation, it has felt like a bit of a chore these last two weeks.  I don't think I have found my balance yet though I am doing better than last week.  I think I am just adjusting to a new kind of normal. At a yoga class on Wednesday, I was talking to my friend Jessica.  She told me that tends to take whatever time she has during the day to read the scriptures.  This is due to life's inconsistency.  Sometimes it may be easier to just have the scriptures out on the counter to be picked up during the rare moments of quiet.  This seems to work for me as well.  I do not really consistently at one time during the day, just whenever I can.  So, I am asking you all, how do you find balance?  How do you find time to take care of your families needs, succeed at work, devote time to religious studies, and enjoy positive recreation?  Post your tips because I need all the help I can get!