Vacation? What's that?

[flaming_muse]

I am 'on vacation' for a couple of weeks between the end of the museling's camp session and the beginning of the school year after Labor Day, and of course that means that I have no time to rest, relax, or do anything for myself. I remember when vacations were times that I got to devour a book a day and not do much of anything. Not anymore!

Comments

[sheafrotherdon]

I find this hard to do - create balance - and I'm not raising a child or married, so you have my utmost respect for juggling those things, too. Does the museling still nap? Not that naps are necessarily magical spaces of time, since there's all the other stuff to do that hasn't gotten done before then.

I have no answers, clearly, about how to find / make time, only all the good thoughts imaginable for you being able to make it happen, even a fraction, over these next couple of weeks ♥

[flaming_muse]

You know, it's actually comforting to me that you have a similar struggle with balance, because sometimes I wonder what my life would be if I hadn't chosen to marry and/or have a child. I know it wouldn't be a life of self-propelled bliss, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of it

[sheafrotherdon]

I often wonder if my married / partnered / parenting friends consider the roads not taken, so it's cheering to know they do! A close friend and I recently had a fantasticly open conversation about the things she finds difficult, even regretful, about her life, and I was so grateful. Society makes such a meal out of saying you're incomplete without a partner and kids that it was good to know, for some reason, that sometimes she envies my life.

But yes, balance is not my forte! I tend to bounce between being super social and being a hermit, instead of finding the merry between.

[flaming_muse]

Part of the lie of our society is that having a partner and kids is the ultimate way to lead a satisfied life, and it's so untrue. There are pros and cons to everything. It can be great to have a partner to support you, but they also take so much emotionally from you. It can be wonderful to have children, but they require a lot of sacrifice of time and personal freedom.

I absolutely think about what other lives I could have led. I can't imagine not doing so. I chose to date and later marry mr. muse. I chose not to get my Ph.D. after my Master's, despite the strong encouragement of the faculty that I continue. I chose not only to have a child but to adopt one, which means he automatically has special needs. All of those decisions were very deliberate ones, but I do think about what life would have been like if I'd made different ones. I don't regret the choices I've made at the end of the day, but I do dream of other mes I might have been. I'd have missed out on other things, but I'd have gained, too.

[stoney321]

I'm actively staring at this comment section on the chance someone has an answer to how to have it all. :)

FANCY DINNER DRESS UP VACATION I WANT THAT TOOOOOOOO. *grabby hands at you*

[flaming_muse]

Bah, I'm beginning to think there's no magical solution. Unfair! So unfair! *shakes her fist at the sky*

PSST IF NOTHING ELSE TREVOR LIVE IS ON DECEMBER 7TH THIS YEAR AND I AM SCHEMING TO GO BACK. BUT SOMETHING BEFOREHAND TOO. ALL THE VACATIONS WITH YOU!

[out_there]

I think its' a struggle no matter what you've got going on in life. Family and kids makes it harder, but even when you're single there's still pets and home maintenance and friends and work and social life and basic adult responsibilities. There are a lot of things to fit into the day and finding time to be creative is really easy to overlook.

But if someone magically finds the perfect balance, or a time-turner or cloning machine that would give me a good 48 hours in every day (okay, some days it would be really nice to have 72 hours, to be honest), I would be first in line for that.

[flaming_muse]

Being an adult is being an adult, I think. We just have different responsibilities.

[cesperanza]

I am having this same sort of vacation! Which means eyes glued to a small child to be sure he doesn't drown! NON VACATION is LESS STRESSFUL.

[flaming_muse]

NON VACATION IS SO MUCH LESS STRESSFUL, YES!

It's kind of ridiculous! I feel like I was promised as a kid that as an adult I'd get to be the captain of my own ship, but what I didn't realize was that that ship would have a ton of passengers I'd have to take care of and make sure didn't fall overboard. :D

Good luck with the lack of drowning and so forth! I hope you manage a little bit of quiet relaxation for yourself as well. Hey, miracles can happen!

[china_shop]

I have the ideal conditions for creativity -- I'm a full-time fangirl with oodles of alone time and in theory I could be writing/vidding 24/7 -- but I still get stuck and distracted and blocked. I've been struggling a lot with that this year, and I occasionally wonder whether having other commitments, esp a job, would make me feel better about being blocked because at least I'd be achieving something constructive. Fwiw. :-)

(I had this tab open for ages to see what other people would say. Time to close it, so I thought I'd chime in.)

[flaming_muse]

Maybe it's just the creative life, you know? Maybe striving for balance - for the right amount of space and the right amount and sort of stimulation and busyness beyond the writing/vidding - is just the nature of the beast. I always have ideas sparking when I don't have time for them, like it's my brain's way of burning off excess energy. Maybe we all struggle to find the right balance.

[china_shop]

I think that's it exactly.