work-life balance
We have a lot to do around here. Me, I need to keep up with the gardening and weeding, on top of the long-term painting project and other vague home-improvement type things I have going on. Then there's the preserving that needs to be done this time of year, and the baking tat always needs to be done. Leah cooks and cleans and does laundry, and the kids, dog, and chickens need very occasional interventions from us as well. There are days when I have high hopes of working non-stop all day, moving seamlessly from one task to another.
That never happens, of course. For one thing I think I'm constitutionally incapable of that kind of focus—my way of doing things involves a lot of standing around dreaming and planning for three projects down the road. But it would also mean missing out on some fun times, too. And when it comes down to it, I think that I need plenty of hippy relaxing to balance out my homesteader hard working. We spent five hours or something at Springs Brook on Friday and almost that long visiting with friends Saturday; yesterday we biked to church (well over an hour longer than driving, round trip) then hung out with Grandma and Grandpa all evening.
The bicycle expedition was a great example of the value of not being too driven (haha, pun totally intended). We left ourselves plenty of time, and since there was no kids church Sunday we knew that if we were a little late it would even matter. Of course, since we're totally awesome cyclists we actually made the trip in much better time then we expected, but it still seemed pretty relaxing (mentally, that is; physically it was fairly taxing, especially for Leah on the big bike with the kids!). Even as we were riding Harvey was exclaiming at how much fun it was to be cycling in new territory: he commented a few times on how he really liked being able to see things from the bike that he wouldn't be able to from the car. After church, as we played in the playground, he told me to make sure we went home the same way, because he enjoyed the route so much on the way in.
Note that I am not saying that you, reader, need to take more time doing fun things and less time working—much less that I do myself. I would probably be safe working a little more and relaxing a little less. But you know, it's all good. Maybe each day has a different balance. Hopefully, we can all figure it out without stressing too much about it.