So many questions, not many answers

I never understood why so much emphasis was put on this "so called" work/life balance. I always viewed it as "if you work hard, your life will be good". I guess when it comes to what I view or deem "good" is heavily weighed on monetary comforts. Being able to live in a comfortable home, vacation, dine out, etc is what I would call a "good" life. All of these things are attainable through financial stability. In order to achieve that stability one must work hard, only a few of us get things handed to us. But is that really all that it takes? Is working hard the only success factor? Wouldn't more people be financially secure if working hard is all it took? How much does your work ethic account for how well you do?
More importantly, is being successful only determined by how much money you make or what title you hold at work? Is striking a perfect balance between a good career and a good "life" what makes you successful? At what point do they counteract one another and at what point do they compliment one another?
In my opinion, each person's answers or interpretations to each of these things will vary. What they prioritize or deem important will decide how much they weigh life success vs work success. Better yet, what do they deem as life success? The ability to see your kid off to school in the morning or being able to tuck them in at night may be a better life than working 65 hrs a week and having lots of financial stability or success. At the end of the day the question we need to ask our self is as rhetorical as "what came first? the chicken or the egg"...what is YOUR work/life balance for the YOUR stage in life or work? then only will the answer come to you as to how to balance a career and a life/family.

Narcissism

Many people have blogs about current events, hobbies, politics, pop culture...mine is about my thoughts. Who am I to assume that anyone is going to want to hear what I have to say or my perspective on things? It isn't self importance because this blog isn't for others-its for me. It is my spot in cyberspace to rant, rave, share, discuss whatever I feel like. Selfish, eh? Call it what you will, but it is actually really uncommon these days to say what you feel. Now I know it sounds trite to say how lucky I am to live in a society, country, time period in which I have the freedom to voice my opinions-but in all honesty, who really says what they feel or mean anymore? I am not sure if I am blessed or cursed with the no filter gene or as my co worker so politely puts it "she has no hair on her tongue." I am just cut from a different fabric than most folks in that respect.
Whether it be in a corporate setting or a social one, know one truly says what is on their mind. Not to say people walk on egg shells, but I think I am one of the rare people out there that really just say what they are thinking. There is a plaque in my dad's office that says "make sure brain is engaged, before mouth is in gear".  Its not that I don't think about what I am saying, but I rarely mince my words in the fear of how it will be percieved. I don't mean to offend or hurt the person I am talking to, I am moreso speaking on what I want to say. Luckily for me, most people find this trait endearing, genuine, respectable-because if they didn't many circumstances would deem this behavior as inappropriate. Not for nothing, but there is a sociological thrill in watching people's reactions to something abnormal or inapproriate as it is. However unusual or not, saying what you mean and meaning what you say is rare. You could see this as me tooting my own horn or being concieted, or heck even narcissistic. It is what it is.

Gratitude

I feel so happy to be surrounded by so many good people in my life.
Now one could say ofcourse everyone loves the people in their life otherwise why would they have them in their life? Which is true to some extent, but I'm especially grateful because of the fact that there are so many people out there with all kinds of issues. You will have the one friend that always needs 'one up' the next guy or you will have the extremely judgemental (guilty of this my self on occasion) or the needy friend or the party friend or the one that is never satisfied/"negative nancy".
So when you have the dependable, kind, caring, fun, smart, & awesome friend-you really value it because nowadays finding a person that is genuine and not competitive, jealous, high maintenance etc is like finding the pearl in the oyster.
So value those people, put them on that cliched pedestal. They are few & far between so know that it could be someone you've known for years or someone you just met, or someone it took you 7 yrs to reconnect with, but now that they are in your life all you can say is thank goodness...
I'm thankful for Jess- among a few others :)

Get a Life

So at the risk of sounding harsh, this is my public service announcement to all the females out there:
"Get a Life"
...when your whole life revolves around work, a boyfriend, or one single thing, you really don't have a life.
There are so many intelligent business women in the work force today, but they fail when it comes to their approach to life. Would they invest all their principal in one stock? If that stock went belly up, they would lose all their money...so then why would they do that in life? Boys come and go, jobs come and go, so how is it healthy to go 'all in' on one hand?
Plus instead of perfecting one role: career woman, good girlfriend, excellent daughter, etc etc...why not become a jack of all trades? Better yourself at work or learn how to cook whatever you can do improve yourself all around.
Obsessing about one aspect of your life won't change how that plays out-so why not take control of what you can...yourself...and make it better? If your company is restructuring- why not diversify your skill set as opposed to blaming Corporate America, or go back to school and further your education. But to simply sit tight and complain is just cowardly. Instead of dedicating your life to a boyfriend or relationship that may go caput...why not dedicate your life to yourself?
If one stock in the portfolio is performing poorly then there are other stocks to pick up the overall portfolio's return. Same goes with life, if you have a great career and good friends, if a relationship goes sour you have so many other things to be happy about...

"Take your life by the horns and make something of it".
"Put up or shut up."
Better yet, know that "no one gets to heaven in a rocking chair".
So pick your poison, but make it sweet & not bitter.

To Blog or Not to Blog...

So as I emailed my old college roommate this:

"If I were to start blogging as so many people do these days, what would I blog about? Isn't blogging just a more savvy term for keeping a diary? I was never good at those so how consistent would I be about blogging? Now I do like updating my FB status or tweeting so one could say that I do like sharing information or thoughts...but how is blogging different than just being a public diary? Plus is this going to be a when I'm bored, lonely, procrastinate GMAT studying type of thing? Because work isn't going to be slow forever & the snow will melt and then I will have this half assed, never finished blog sitting in cyber space. Unless because I am an I-Phone user that I can use this blog, when laying out...stuck in traffic on the way to golf...at the airport waiting for a flight, or all those moments that you can't consider true "down time" but really don't have much else to do but sit & "yank it". lol
I don't like starting something I can't finish so I really want to put some thought into taking this on, although this isn't a 5k or child rearing, it is just a blog. Plus I think like the premise of Julie & Julia, it may inspire me to do new things or try different things in order to have blog worthy material. Plus how nice would it be to have a piece of your life or past to read about at a future date? Also although tweeting is nice, it is limited. This would give me unlimited space to ramble on & on...(right because that's what the world needs)..."

She convinced me that I should go ahead and start a blog. It would be something cool to do and her dad has kept a journal for years and similaily blogging will not only be a keep sake, but therapeutic...so here we are, day one. Dedicated to Katie Festa.