Day 16 balancing

"When I began slow my life down and decided to free myself from conforming to the 'standard' expectations of society, something magical happened... I began to truly connect with the magic of the everyday. By making conscious choices to avoid main stream media, shopping centres, the 'buy and consume' mentality and instead spending time in connecting with Mother Earth and turning inward through journaling, meditation and yoga rather than looking elsewhere for fulfillment and happiness, a whole new aspect of life began to unravel itself. It was there all along, I has just made myself too 'busy' to notice."      
THIS^  is a quote by Sophie Isobel Asher and I really love it. She is an artist/designer who used to have a blog I loved called 'Her Library Adventures'.  Come on. who doesn't love that title? Come to think of it... loving the title 'Kale and cigarettes' is what led me here!

Regarding this quote, though... Of course I am not fully there. I've thought seriously about getting off FB, but I have tiny reservations.  and I do love Instagram. (photos get me every time) Doubt I'll ever want to give that up.  I haven't been to a mall in forever and I DO avoid big corporate stores for the most  part. (Weaning myself off Target...not that easy) I consciously try to shop small and local whenever I can.  I used to be a super busy mum running around all the time, mostly in my vehicle, but life changes and I definitely notice more freedom in my day than I had before.

So...what to do with that "free time"? The cruel irony is that just when I attained Free Time is when I am too tired to add much to my day.  I have high hopes of making more money selling my barnwords signs. I am actually applying to art/craft shows finally. This is a big step for me, previously I sold basically to friends of friends. As with anything (yoga, yoyo, dance, sports,singing....) there are whole universes within the worlds of these things. Art fairs are no different. There are unwritten rules and "things people know" about this world that I am uninformed of. The nuances of applying to,  as well as being a vendor are quite interesting.  Learning experience.    
Ironically, I like being busy. So I will fill my time with projects and things to focus on but I will never feel as busy as I did when the kids were here and younger, I'm sure of that. 
So I guess it is all about balance. Having  balance in your life. Balance between the busy and the idle. Balance between the hard and the easy stuff.  Oh, to be a balanced individual. I am learning to balance my good and bad, yin and yang. I am always learning.
 When I think about the actual word: balance... I picture those old fashioned wooden teeter-totters that if the guy on the down end suddenly let up...the guy in the air comes crashing down and it hurts like hell.  
I am lucky and I count my blessings every day, believe me. ( I could be luckier....but couldn't we all!!?)   x #500wordsaday