Everyday there are choices that I make that I am becoming more and more aware of. The choice to stay late at work, or catch up with a friend. The choice to stop and have a healthy lunch, or work through lunch to maybe leave for home before the sun goes down.

In the movie The Devils Wears Prada, [the character] Nigel says to his overworked co-worker, who is on the verge of being single, “Let me know when your whole life goes up in smoke. Means it’s time for a promotion.” Like everything else, people need balance. Without balance there can be no calm. There can also be no direction without  balance.

But in order to have balance, there must be a conscious awareness of  differing sides. There must be work and play, as well as fun and serious. To achieve balance takes discipline – unless of course, you forgo the difference and work becomes life and coworkers become family. I have nothing against relationships as coworkers and friends, but when that is all you have, there can be no balance.

As I sit at work, I think about the balance I am missing. I want to be working out to keep myself healthy. I want to be building a stronger bond with that much neglected friend. Instead, I am working away watching the sun set behind me. At what point do you earn enough to live and live enough to have balance?

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