It's All About Balance

Last week I mentioned the Margie Lawson Online Course I completed in January, Defeating Self Defeating Behaviours. One of the epiphanies I had during the course - what Margie calls Aha! moments - was to do with balance. Not in the physical plant two feet on the ground sense (although that's always a useful thing) but in the writing/family/work/life sense of the word.Like many chronic procrastinators I spend far too much time avoiding writing - even though I love it. It's the fear thing kicking in, but that was the topic of last week's blog. What happens then is that even though I'm not writing, I'm not being productive at anything else because I'm too wracked with guilt over my lack of output. The guilt seems to immobilise me so that not only do I fail to write, I also fail to clean the house, spend meaningful time with my family, garden, exercise, read or relax. And then I'm impossible to live with because I'm grumpy as hell about not achieving anything.The Aha! I had was that in order to get more words on the page I need to have a balance of all these things in my life. The words won't come if the well is dry and to keep the well full life needs to consist of more than blank paper.So to make sure I'm getting my writing done I'm setting a daily and weekly schedule and I'm factoring in all those other things I need to do in my life that foster my creativity. I know I'll produce more that way - because if it's on the schedule it MUST be done. And I'm sure I'll be a much pleasanter person to live with - for myself and my family.How do you find a balance between your writing and the rest of your life?