A Balanced Life

I was just asked to speak on Balance for 15-20 minutes. With these very very specific instructions: You can decide what that means and where you want to take it. Awesome. I've got two weeks to put it together. Here's my experience with balance so far in my life:

12 years old: I learn how to do a back handspring on a four-foot-high balance beam.

21 years old: I balance my first check book. Remember check books? I thought I was so mature! I lasted a few days of diligent record keeping. Then I got bored and confused.

27 years old: I meet with a professional nutritionist and learn how to truly balance my diet. Mainly, she taught me that Trader Joe's solves everything. I lost 15 pounds by following her meal ideas! I've since gained it back. But at least I gained it all back without McDonald's, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils!

The results after working with a nutritionist. Picture taken two years ago. Forget the kids, look how cute I am!

That's all I go so far. I clearly have a lot to learn before I speak before hundreds of people on balance. What is a balanced life anyway? I think it's a life that gives ample time and effort to things that really matter.  If I'm right, then I need to work on my balancing act.

So here's the plan: For the next two weeks I'm going to try to live a more Balanced Life. Sort of like the Happiness Project. I never made it past the first two chapters of that book, but I got the gist of it. Here's my list of things that matter most in my life and that I want to be spending more time and effort with:

1. My kids: Wake up with them and play with them more. Specifically: Read them at least five stories a day. The boys at the park: push them 50 times each on the swing. Ella at the park: Play at least one 20 minute game, her choice. I shamelessly spend 95% park time on my iphone and the other five is taking pictures of my kids for the blog. So much for making this the best summer ever! haha

2. Rob: Spend more time with him. At night.

3. Myself:
Eat like I did when I worked with a nutritionist, run/exercise 30 minutes daily, go to bed by 10:30pm, read 30 pages of a book of my choice, and relearn how to do a back handspring on a balance beam. Make it two back handsprings in a row and stick the landing. Someone fetch me a balance beam!

I think that should give me enough to work on for two weeks. I'll start today. If nothing else, my experiences will help fill up at least 10 minutes of speaking time. The other 5 minutes can be filled with statistics on balance. Everyone loves to hear about numbers for five minutes!  Wish me luck.

Do you feel like you are in a period in your life that feels balanced? I need all the help I can get! Tell me how you do it!