Finding balance in life is something I’ve always struggled with. Between being a mum, a wife, an author and a friend, sometimes there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. Then when I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of things, one of these goes off track and I have to start all over again. As well as balancing my ‘roles’ in life, there’s also my health, fitness and mental wellbeing to keep in check.

Since both of my kids are in school this year I thought I had life sorted. “Great,” I thought, “I’ll have plenty of time through the week to get my writing done, and exercise, and catch up with friends. Then on weekends it will be all about my family.” And by the middle of last week I thought I had it all under control. I was exercising at least 30 minutes per day, eating healthy, meditating before bed and hitting my daily word counts. Then I started running out of energy, and by Friday lunch I was absolutely exhausted and run down. I spent the entire weekend sleeping and resting unable to find the energy to do much else and although I feel like I’m on the mend I’m still not 100% today.

So where did I go wrong? I didn’t listen to the signs. Although my body ached and was tired I ignored it and exercised anyway instead of resting like I needed. Despite feeling tired at 10pm I’d push on to get more writing done, watch my favourite tv show, read a book or meditate, and wouldn’t get to sleep until well after midnight. I was focusing on doing it all instead of working on one or two things at a time. I burnt myself out.

This isn’t the first time I’ve burnt out, a few years ago I ended up bed ridden for over a month with viral Labrynthitis (viral vertigo). You think I would’ve learnt my lesson but it doesn’t appear that way. So what now? Now I scale back my balancing act and work on what’s important. My health, which doesn’t necessarily mean working out every day to the point of exhaustion. My mental health, which means going to bed early to meditate. My relationship with my family, which means making the weekends all about them, and of course, my writing, which means not putting so much pressure on myself.

Do you have trouble finding balance in your life? Or do you think you’ve found the perfect formula? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.