10 Day WE CAN DO IT Countdown to 2011 # 10 Balance

If 2010 had some of us throwing out balance in favor of inspiration or at least the freedom to be inspired -

(which somehow does find it easier to navigate a way into our sleep deprived brains at 2am -

of course, like that guy at the bar with the nasty tattoos, what seems like a great idea at 2am doesn't always look so good the next morning)

maybe 2011 will be about allowing more balance back into our lives.

Working until we collapse, get sick or burn out is maybe ok for ocassional short term projects, but real life working creatives don't always get that kind of end zone.

If we find ourselves craving an inordinate amount of time alone or time doing absolutely nothing we have probably given too much of ourselves away.

I think Etsy (and being able to see everyday the amazing work others are doing) has also created an impetus (and inspiration) in some of us to do things NOW, but real life and real creating is about the process.

Before I created Uncorked and before I created Polarity I had made room in my life for something BIG. I thought at the time that BIG thing was going back to school full-time, but I truly believe that it was the 'making of that space' that allowed the ideas for both of my lines to flow through me.

Sometimes when you get out of balance, favoring one way of being in the world to the exclusion of all others, things get overwhelming fast - it is like we have found ourselves on one end of a seesaw with 600 lb sumo wrestler on the other side and we are just not going anywhere no matter how much we jump up and down and facebook and tweet and whatever the hell else we are doing - now we don't want to toss that sumo guy to the ground because then we will come crashing to the sidewalk, but he absolutely needs a diet and he needs one now.

(not sure how well this analogy is working for me, but for some reason I am feeling the need to stick with it)

I love my work and I love alot of other stuff, too.

(people always tell me how lucky I am to work at home - and yes, I get the positives of working at home, truly I do- but the big negative is that when you work at home you are always at work and balance gets tricky)

And again this is a process and we are never going to be in perfect balance, but I know I can create something better here.

So, in 2011, I am deciding my sumo guy needs some Jillian Michaels and a few more carrots, maybe yours does, too.

(and we may even find we have time to read something that doesn't contain pictures of celebrity cellulite ... which I may have been perusing in the grocery store line and may have inspired my little sumo man)

*serene balanced stones print by tanya gilmartin