Where Did The Year Go? Balancing Work and Family in 2011

Work Wednesday

One of my favorite blogs on all things working moms is The Miami Herald's Work/Life Balancing Act by Cindy Krischer Goodman. She writes about everything from current events to parenting issues, all with a focus on managing the balance between work and family life.

Yesterday, Goodman asked her readers a question that I always confront sometime in the Thanksgiving to New Year's stretch:

Where did the year go?

As Goodman put it, "As I strive each day for work life balance, each year seems to go by faster and faster. When November hit, I found myself saying, "Didn't I just eat turkey a few months ago?!?"

Yeah, how did it get to be November? Now, almost December? I'm still full from Thanksgiving 2009! Where, indeed, did the past year go?

I do know that I spent 2011 juggling both sides of the work/family balance, working as a lawyer and taking care of my kids and my marriage. Other than that, it's all a bit fuzzy. According to Goodman, that's because we tend to create lasting and detailed memories of first-time or novel events while our impressions of events that repeat year after year (or day after day) often blur.

To slow down the pace of life, at least psychologically, and recapture our memories, Goodman suggests keeping a journal. She also recommends taking advantage of new and unique experiences to create distinct memories and focusing on positive, rather than negative, past memories. All good advice.

Unfortunately, I don't have the discipline for a daily journal but I do blog - at least occasionally. I won't subject you to a roundup of all my 2011 CurrentMom blog posts (or my late 2010 posts) but reading through them I can tell you that since last Thanksgiving, I've spent most of my time on the essentials of everyday life for a busy two-income, two-kid family: chauffering, cleaning, cooking, commuting, comforting, coordinating, hugging, laundering, loving, organizing, scheduling, schlepping, shopping, traveling, and working (and teleworking).

As the past year's posts show, I've also devoted some time to reading, thinking, blogging, and agitating about isues that affect working moms, although not as much time as I would like. I've also enjoyed celebrations, travels, and vacations with family and friends. And there have been some big events, too, like my son starting kindergarten and a much-delayed reunion with my law school friends.

According to my CurrentMom confessions, though, I didn't exercise, groom, sleep, or clean enough (although the last one is by choice). I probably spent too much time on Facebook, my smartphones, and other electronic distractions. (Let me know if you're up for a Boggle app challenge.) And, as a post from this summer reminds me, I used up more hours than seems fair for nitpicking and other lice removal-related activities.

It's a good thing I have CurrentMom to rev up my memories and retard the passage of time. What about you? How do you manage to hold onto the events of the past year amid the frenzy of your daily juggle? What are your special memories of the past year? What new memories will you create this holiday season?

Photo of 2011 Letterpress Calendar - Limited Edition by Sarah Parrott via Flickr.com.

Comments

[Marci]

Enjoyed your blog posts this year, Stacy - the juggle/struggle is ever-present, but I'm grateful for my full life of family and career! Did you catch the story that NPR ran on work/life balance for Washington lawyers? Here's a link: http://wamu.org/programs/metro_connection/11/11/18/maintaining_a_life_when_you_work_in_law

[Julie]

Great blog. It is a question I cannot answer. My life sometimes feels like it is the spinner from the game of life, spinning away. My kitchen calendar is the "time collector" -- when I look back over the year I can see that we spent a year helping cats, kittens, and dogs find forever homes, checked out colleges, enjoyed our annual Cape May vacation, prepared for Michael's upcoming Bar Mitzvah, and enjoyed many days with friends and family mixed in with lots of school activities.

[Emily Kuvin]

So true -- as we get older, each year gets shorter. Just hang on and and try to enjoy the journey as you're taking it. You lead a rich and rewarding life, fitting more in than most!

[Cindy Goodman]

Here's the line of your post I most enjoyed: I've spent most of my time on the essentials of everyday life for a busy two-income, two-kid family: chauffering, cleaning, cooking, commuting, comforting, coordinating, hugging, laundering, loving, organizing, scheduling, schlepping, shopping, traveling, and working (and teleworking). Oh, how I can relate!