How do you balance your work life, family, friends

[spedrunner]

and YOU?

I swear I am just BEAT.  My job takes so much out of me

I get up at 4 am and run BEFORE work bc i have to usually work late and am too exhausted after being with the kids all day. I come home eat do more work and want to pass out. I force myself to stay up and do things but i feel like im just forcing it

So how do YOU do it?!   Do you just do it and not think about it?

Just curious.  Im feeling burnt out

[Deleted]

I don't.
One part always seems to suffer. Right now it's my time with friends which is no bueno because who knows if they'll be there when I decide I have time.

[rex]

My friends and I plan way ahead. We get together once a month and plan the next get together at that time.

We squeeze in our parents when were not doing something else.

[grover]

Friends and family get scheduled for weekends only. During the week, after work is reserved for working out and preparing dinner together. Then sometimes grading/lesson planning for me (luckily I don't have much of either based on what I teach), or if I can get away with me time I do. As far as weekends go, we've used the past few weekends for working on the house. Thus, we've made it a point to schedule one "free" weekend a month where we don't make plans with anyone. This one weekend is where we get the bulk of our separate me times and a date night. I have no idea how kids will fit in though.

[2boys2danes]

I had this exact conversation with my workteam a month or so ago... I told them I was sick of half assing almost every aspect of my life. I half ass my work for awhile, then my friends, then family, etc in a vicious cycle. Luckily, I have an awesome work team that has my back, my friends are all very low maintenance and my kids are old enough now to somewhat fend for themselves. H is a very patient man and very un-demanding so that helps. If you find the answer, let me know.

I do try to take random days off when no one else "needs me" to recharge which is nice, and I have a sunday night 6PM AIS rule (Ass in seat -- as in, I've done everything I'm gonna do this weekend and its time to relax for a bit"

[RoxMonster]

I got burnt out a lot when I was going to Grad school while working full-time. Definitely didn't have a good balance then. Since graduating, it's gotten better.

I work out in the evenings now at home since we got a spin bike. I come home and take about an hour just to relax and play with the dog. H cooks in our family so he comes home and makes dinner (his choice to do that) and we try to have a relaxing dinner, though it doesn't always happen. Then I work out, shower, and will try to do one productive thing each night (laundry, clean a room, or what not). I have found that breaking up the cleaning throughout the week has helped immensely instead of doing it all one day.

I always used to put myself last and would go crazy. Now I try to take an hour a day (at least) to do whatever I want, whether that's reading, watching TV, taking a nap or what have you. I've learned that if I'm not in a good place I am useless at work, around the house, etc. I do have a job that I often take home (teacher) but I set aside three hours a day on weekends to grade or lesson plan and then stop. Whatever doesn't get done gets put to the next day and I will catch up by taking it home on week nights if necessary (which I try not to do). If I don't put a time limit on it on weekends, I could spend all day grading papers and get really burnt out.

[juliagoulia]

I delegate well, lol.

No really, I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing roughly 50% of the time.

I try to plan pretty much everything, at least loosely, and I try not to beat myself up if something doesn't get accomplished. As long as its not one of the more important things like feeding my kid or something.

[ginger]

HAHAHA! you're funny!

I don't. I usually end up dropping something.

[bab]

I suck at finding a balance. I actually just posted this same thing in another thread a couple of hours ago. I don't know how to fix it. My job is irritating. I deal with EXTREMELY needy people all day then I come home and need to make it happen up in here. Sometimes I feel like a complete and utter FAIL.

[sugarbear]

I work pretty much from 8 to 3:30. I work out right after school, and both weekend days (I take m / w off). I see my family on the weekends, sometimes, though my step mother watches DS twice weekly, so I see her either coming or going. I see friends in our workout group T/Th, and occasionally on weekends. I rarely bring work home, though I do answer students' and parents' emails.

I don't know. I feel like I do ok. Ask me again when kid #2 arrives in a couple months!

Ps. I think teaching is a pretty easy job in terms of work / life balance, especially after teaching similar material for several years. I think this would be much hard if I had another job. Ad by teaching, I mean mainstream. Sped is a whole other ball game. I don't know how you do it.

[spedrunner]

Thanks guys good to know I'm not alone. I think work is just consuming me and I do have down time and kinda want to be Alone to just unwind....I like my e time plus I feel so beat most the time I feel I'm prob bad company

[bab]

I also can't deal with the phone. I can't stand it. I wish everyone who wanted to talk to me would just call at work. I really can't be bothered once I am in relaxation mode.

[luckyval]

I'm much like rex - I tend to plan 2-4 weeks in advance. I also have learned to let certain things go. In my case it's usually a clean house

eta: I also have very little actual down time. But I came to the conclusion that I'd rather spend the scarce free time I have doing stuff than catching up on reality tv

[lucky513]

my work takes up my whole life

[leahmel]

It's tough. I have no kids, but I have a few different circles of friends, like to stay fit, and a very busy job. Sometimes I feel pulled in so many directions. Maintaining my relationships is priority for me, my friendships are super important, and so is my relationship with BF. I am not really sure how kids will fit in, but I guess some of my friends will have to take the back seat as far as priority. I just can't imagine cutting any of them out. Exercise is also so important in my life because if I don't do it, I am miserable and feel like crap about myself.


Basically, I have no idea and I struggle with this too. Sorry that I am no help, but at least I can commiserate.

ETA: BF has someone come and clean his house 1x/month, we are upping it to 2X/month when I move in. I refuse to let cleaning the house be a priority and if we didn't have the cleaning lady I would probably just have a messy house. lol

[Doc_Lobster]

No kids.