Dreams Don’t Have Deadlines: Finding Balance

Last month was a rough one. I started guitar lessons five days a week and needed to keep a tight schedule to complete this, working out, finding ideas for this publication, planning my father’s memorial service, formatting my book, and getting eight hours of sleep. Now, this was probably a ridiculous to-do list and I never made time for half of this stuff. My radical self-love agenda for 2021 slowly evaporated as soon as it got started.

I ran across a provocative meme stating that we all have the same twenty-four hours in a day as Beyonce. This is true if we use them as she does. Yes, she’s under forty and has a paid village, but we can still take notes on how to be productive in our business and present in our personal lives. I doubt Beyonce is scrolling through Instagram for hours or binge-watching Air Disasters (my latest guilty pleasure).

I had to research this, but I’ve decided to revamp my to-do list by creating a better morning routine (like actually waking up before five minutes ’til work), scheduling downtime, and getting creative with my workouts. A two-mile walk at lunch is the highlight of my day. I realized that lights out at 9 p.m., no matter who texts me (FOMO is real!) is unrealistic for me. I can’t squeeze in everything I do after my 9-to-5 by 9 p.m., and I’m okay with that.  I’ve joined #TeamNoSleep and after I crush these goals, I’ll be where I want to be for 2022. 

Just like Miss Ciley finally sticking up for herself in The Color Purple, our bodies, and minds demand structure to activate monumental transformations and it’s saying “until you do right by me, everything you think about is going to fail.”  Message received.