"It's all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family."
-Philip Green
I think we can all agree that more than once in our lives we have heard that the key is to find balance. It is much easier said than done. There is a lot to balance in life between class, homework, work, sports...it gets a little crazy. Lets look at all of that as an hour by hour break down.
Class: 15 hr/wk
Homework: about 30 hr/wk
Work: 16-20 hr/wk
Sports: 13-20 hr/wk
Total: 74-85 hr/wk
Lets remember that is before sleep and any free time so, in a seven day week that leaves roughly 83-94 hours to sleep and do anything you want and with most of us getting roughly eight hours of sleep a night it knocks that number down to roughly 27-38 hours a week of free time. Now that may seem like a lot but divide that by seven days. It breaks down to between three and five hours a day, not accounting for time spent eating mind you.
I know that was a lot of math but I wanted to show you how quickly our time disappears without us realizing it. So, when someone says we need balance...it'd hard to find it with everything we have going on.
Things only get harder as we grow up. For me, it can get crazy. I have learned the importance of breathing and taking time to myself when I have the chance. Let me tell you, there is NOTHING wrong with taking "me" time.
I think that finding balance has more to deal with what works for you anyways. For me, I like to keep busy which means I am always on the move and have very little down time. That to me is balance but for someone else balance might mean a lot of down time. The thing you have to remember is that it is your life and you have to go with your gut.
If I listened to every tip I have ever been given about how to balance things I would be one hot mess. I have maybe listen to one third of them and it works just fine. I'm not saying there are not days where I get in over my head because there are but I know how to handle them most of the time anyway and when I don't I know people have my back to help me out.
The bottom line is, it is not about everything being even it is about everything working together.
