Balance

I was all woe-is-me about my job yesterday, but today I'm working from home, saving $14 of gas and 1-1/2 hours of driving.  Must not be that terrible of a job if I can work from home on occasion with no problem.  Aside from the 11-hours a day thing and the frustrating work thing, the job isn't bad.  I have a good boss and a lot of flexibility.  Of course, it doesn't stop me from resenting the intrusion on my ideal life and doesn't change the fact that most of my energy goes toward helping investment bankers get richer.  I would gladly work much harder than I work now for much less money, if I could align how I make money with my goals, even in roaring sunlight, sleet, rain, snow.  Hm.   ...   Hm.   ... Things that make you go, "Hm."

Mama Pea wrote a comment on yesterday's post that got me thinking all over again in creative ways about my options.  Thanks Mama Pea, and others, you brought tears to my eyes.  In a good way.  It's nice to have outside confirmation that my sense of wrongness isn't all wrong.  I so often feel like I'm all alone in this.

Here's a quote from another blog that I read (A Posse Ad Esse) where this couple struggled to find balance when the wife got a part-time job.   They had more money than before, but less time to make good choices.

Getting back to basics. A lot changed this year for A~ and I. She started working part-time (this was planned for next year but the right opportunity presented itself so we acted on it) and it really threw us both out of whack. I knew I depended on her as my partner, but I had no real idea of HOW dependant I was on her. We really struggled throughout the year to find our balance and to be able to maintain our lives the way that we had worked into them. Because we had some extra money for the first time in a long while it was really easy for us to fall into some habits that we hadn't had before because we were so conscious of our income. Eating out more often than we wanted to and not effectively using all the food we were able to grow, not keeping up with making our own organic cleaners and not making the most use of the time we did have available because we were just feeling hectic we welcomed the chance to relax. This year A~ and I want to re-ground and get back to our basics. Time to re-group.

And these folks are two people, struggling to find balance, compared to me being one person!  It really goes a long way towards making me feel more normal as I struggle to align how I spend my time with my values and goals and more often than not, fail.

Things I can do: 
-get better at controlling dollar leakage (ie - bring my lunch to work instead of buying lunch)
-focus on better food, local meat, dairy, etc
-be nice to myself - things may not be happening as fast as I want, but I am on the right path