Finding Balance

Things are starting to settle down and settle into a routine this semester. We are now five weeks down, eight weeks to go, and I can hardly believe the semester is almost half over (ish). It has taken some time to get back into the swing of things after having a relatively slow summer, work wise, and I still feel like I'm trying to figure out how to balance everything.

Last fall, Jeff and I had a fairly strict routine out of necessity. This fall, there is a bit more wiggle room with things, because I am much more independent. In a way, this makes things harder. There is more that I can do, more options, and therefore more pressures and choices about how I spend my time. At work, how much time do I spend on teaching versus research? On any individual task versus the many other tasks I have to choose from? And then, the question of how much time do I spend working? What counts as time spent working? If I am at home, reading news stories on my phone, and then happen to get and respond to a work-related email, is that work? Not really, but perhaps it's not exactly relaxing either. And when it comes to allocating my limited energy, how much should be spent on physically demanding tasks like focused exercise and how much should be saved to keep a reserve?

I am finding this last question to be the hardest in some ways. The other things I have practice with, years worth of practice going back to the beginning of grad school, and as is the case with many other things that one practices a lot it is getting easier. For example, two weeks ago I realized I was seriously overdoing it just with regard to how my Mondays were structured with teaching, and I have effectively implemented a plan that seems to be working. But in the past, it has always been the case that choosing exercise over couch-potatoing ended up leading to more energy and feeling better. Now, a certain amount of exercise will lead to feeling better, but too much exercise will lead to exhaustion and the deterioration of some of my physical abilities.

For the past six months or so, my physical therapist has been encouraging me to be careful about overdoing it with regard to exercise, work, and in general with how I fill my time. I have been taking her suggestions to heart, and part of this has meant spending a lot less time on focused exercise (by which I mean everything from doing an ab work out at home, to riding a stationary bike at the gym, to going for a bike ride outside). But now I'm starting to think that I need to get back into a regular exercise routine, because I think I can handle a little bit more than I could have a few months ago. At the same time, there is no way to really know what the limit is except to cross it, so upping my activity level will undoubtedly mean some days of overdoing it. Again, it's the problem of trying to hit a moving target.

But that's just life, isn't it? I doubt I know one person who never has these kinds of problems. The specific content or focus may change, but the general problem seems to remain, no matter what the circumstances. I hope that somehow by putting so much effort into regaining my physical balance, somehow the things I learn will help me to manage this metaphorical balance as well :)