I sometimes find myself making the same joke over and over, that’s not really a joke, but people always laugh at. Lately, when I’m shooting a closet, or trying to make a stiletto heel stay perfectly upright on a rounded surface I like to say, “It seems like my life has become one long series of balancing challenges.” Ha ha, right?...Cue the side-eye emoji face.
But then I thought about it a little bit, and it seems like this summer really has been a series of balance challenges. Trying to find peace in my diet, getting an equal dose of glamour and practicality in my everyday life, and finally, making time for myself. So, today, I’m taking a state of the union on these things.
As far as peace in my diet goes, I started off strong with directions to just eat like a normal person, for fuck’s sake. But that didn’t really happen. The frantic feasting/shame spiral continued after the initial week of behaving like a reasonable person, so I’m going in the complete opposite direction, doing a week of Dr. Passler’s Pure Change cleanse program, which will hopefully re-train me to not nibble on something every fifteen minutes. I went from a fairly reasonable perspective to an (arguably) drastic approach (although I will say I feel *fantastic* on day three!), so finding balance? Fail.
Regarding the glamour, this is one area I seem to be doing exceedingly well in! I’ve managed to work in sequins, sparkle, or pattern into nearly every outfit and it feels fucking fabulous. If lovin’ sequins is wrong, I don’t want to be right. I fully believe in doing the little things that make you feel like your most electric self, and for me, that’s dressing like I’m wearing the remnants of a thrift-store fire. Plus, I’ve started casually wearing glitter eyeshadow, and I got a fun new iPhone case, so I think that’s a major WIN!
And then there’s the issue of my personal life, or that elusive *work-life balance*, which is trickier. As someone who effectively said sayonara to responsibility back in 2014 and traveled for a year, a lot of people think that I have achieved some sort of satisfaction in this area of my life. Or at least an enlightened perspective. They’re wrong. Taking a year off was cool, but now I’m here, and I give a lot of fucks about making this website you’re reading as excellent as it can be. Often that means late nights editing. Early mornings writing. Long days on set. Weekends at home trying to figure out how the hell PowerPoint works in 2016 because I honestly haven’t opened it since college. But you know something—I’m a grown-ass, child-free woman. I have time for my morning walks, and watching The Bachelorette. I’m not chained to a desk, I have a creative job I love with people I genuinely really like. So maybe that’s all the balance I need. If there’s ever a stage of life to work your ass off for something you actually care about, now is probably that time. I’ll give myself a pass here.
Two out of three is not terrible, but I’d love to know what you guys struggle with, and how you find balance. Tweet us, snap us, DM us, let us know what you care about (or need help with!) and we’ll get our crack-team of expert editors on it faster than we’d be on a CHANEL sample sale (maybe not quite that fast…).