Women's Health

Uma Thurman Puts Motherhood Center Stage

The Tyranny of Balance continued...

Nourishment, says Holstein. "We all need nourishment every day -- and not just food. Are you including things that nourish your life essence? Pay attention to your exhaustion/joy ratio. If you are nourishing your true self consistently, you should not be exhausted and chronically vigilant."

Movement, advises time-management consultant Steve McClatchy, founder of Alleer Training & Consulting, in Malvern, Pa. "Think of the last time you had the thought that your life is better today than it was yesterday. Maybe it was a graduation, a new job offer, an award your child received, even just doing a great workout or receiving a compliment on a job well done. Movement in our lives toward goals and improvement creates the excitement and adrenaline that we need to keep going."

Realism, says Sara Rosenquist, PhD, a clinical psychologist in private practice and former clinical assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "As long as people have to work for a living, children will come second to making money to pay the rent and put food on the table. Lose the guilt. Adjust the expectations. Then you will have 'balance,' the way a mobile is balanced with some parts short and heavy and other parts long and light, but it will not be a 50-50 division of time."

Blending, says Leigh Steere, co-founder of Managing People Better, a management research firm in Boulder, Colo. "Balancing makes you think of juggling balls, with fear of one dropping," she says. "Blending brings up the idea of mixing ingredients to make a wonderful dessert or blending colors to create a vibrant painting. It also incorporates the notion that you can change the blend as desired."

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