WORK WITH BALANCE
Welcome to Day 23 of #write31days. Work is the prompt word for the Five Minute Friday Free Writes. Everyone knows the meaning of that word though we don’t always like to think about it. We need to learn to work with balance of resting and playing.
Work is good for us
When we balance it with play
Our health will improve
Some of us may often feel overworked. Work is good for us, but too much is detrimental to our health. It’s sometimes hard to find the right balance between work and play. Each day we should take a break. Spending a few minutes outdoors each day would reap many benefits to our health.
Many of us work at home, some have indoor jobs and others spend their time outside. My job is in my home where I care for my family. I also write, not only because I love it, but I believe God has called me to do it.
A few years ago I began spending more time outdoors taking pictures of things I found in nature. One day I thought it might be fun to write haiku to go along with the photos. Then I got the bright idea of making a photo haiku book. Since then I have taken more photos and written more haiku, but have not done much towards the book.
I thought I could just put together the photos and haiku and it would be so easy. It didn’t take long to realize there is more to publishing a book than just writing and taking photos. I decided to put it away for awhile. Every once in awhile I would go back to it, but never made much progress.
I think I felt overwhelmed and maybe not ready to put in the work that it would require.
This year I decided to write nature haiku for the #write31days in October. I thought maybe it would help me to get back on track for the book. Originally, I planned to have one haiku and photo each day, but it has developed into more. Still, it has refueled my interest. [bctt tweet=”I want to put in the work and try to finish the book before the end of the year.” username=”GaylWright”]
What about you? Do you have projects you need to finish? What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? How do you get back on track? I would love any suggestions you may have.
To find other posts in this series click HERE.
I’m linking up with: #InspireMeMonday, #LMMLinkup, #Glimpses
So good to know that you are finding time to be outside, to take pictures, and to wrap words around your experiences. You’re certainly being faithful to your 31 day challenge!
Yes, I’m glad the weather has cooled down a bit so that it is very pleasant to be outside. Taking pictures is one of my favorite things! I’m trying hard to be faithful. Only 8 more days. The end is in sight, but I’ve mostly enjoyed doing these posts. 🙂
Blessings to you with love and hugs! xo
Dear Gayl,
I love it that God is calling you back to pursue the work on your book! I think that your photos and words would make such an inspiring collection. Those rest times are so important to let God restore the vision that He’s planted within us, aren’t they? Love you & praying for you in all of your projects! xoxo
Dear Bettie,
Thank you so much, faithful friend! You always manage to encourage and inspire me. I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Blessings, hugs and much love! xoxo
Hi Gayl! I really admire your goals. I can’t write poetry to save my life, it’s so different from prose! But here you are, doing both. That’s really wonderful.
I hope you’ll continue to be inspired by nature, and the gift of words you’ve been given by God. I know he is so happy to see you use all your gifts so well.
Have a wonderful week!
Ceil
Hi Ceil!
So nice to see you here! Thank you for your encouraging comments. I know nature will continue to inspire, just by being there as a reminder of God’s goodness and love. May we all continue to use our gifts for Him. Blessings to you and have a lovely week!
sounds like your work is play! and therefore, so very healthy! i feel the same about writing and speaking (and swinging and shopping! )
Yes, it is an enjoyable kind of work. 🙂 It’s good to enjoy the things we have to do and want to do.
Blessings!
Love that you are feeling called back to more.
Now if I can just set aside distractions and get to work on that book! 🙂 Blessings to you!
Love your photo haiku(s), Gayl. 🙂 I’m right into them too! <3 xo
Thanks so much, Bette. I’m so glad you enjoy them. Blessings to you! Hope you are having a good day. 🙂 xo
I’m currently working on a book about my deployment stories. I am to the point that I need to figure out if I need to find an editor/publisher or self publish. I know from the reaction of my 31 Day Series on Deployment Stories that it is something people are interested so now I just need to figure out what to do connect all the rest of the dots. 🙂 Writing a book is a lot of work.
Oh, I think that is a great idea for a book. Those of us who are not in the military don’t really understand how much sacrifice goes into the lives of people in the different branches of service. Your series has bee very informative and interesting.
I will pray that God gives you wisdom to know whether to self publish or use an editor/publisher. There are so many decisions to make when writing a book, even a simple one like what I want to do. I think that is one thing that has held me back. But if I don’t try I won’t ever do it, right? 🙂 So I’m going to try. 🙂
Blessings to you!
Gayl, it excites my heart to hear how God is calling you back to writing the book. How wonderful! Your photos and haiku would make a lovely combination feast for the soul. I can really identify with the feelings of overwhelm and having projects on the back burner. It was my goal to put last year’s #write31days series, ‘Journeying into Joy’ into a book format. Sadly, life’s busyness and health setbacks for me and my husband put paid to that idea…for now… I am also toying with formulating a haiku book and other things as well, but none of them appear to be achievable yet. I seem to have forgotten how long it took from conception to publication with ‘Seeking Solace’, and how to craft a book together! Hopefully, God will resurrect a few of those things I squirrel away for a better day, and breathe new life into them, just as He is doing for you. Meanwhile, I am supporting you in prayer and looking forward to your book being available in the future! Love and hugs. xoxo
Joy, thank you so much for your great encouragement and your prayers. I started this thing at least 3 yrs ago. I ran into a snag because I didn’t think about having to keep the pictures all one size. I was really new at it and had this great idea I’d make the book for my grandchildren that year for Christmas. Wow, I was so ignorant of all that would need to fit into place. I really hope to put away distractions and get it finished this year. I actually already started at CreateSpace so I just need to get back to it. I hope you are one day able to put ‘Journeying into Joy’ into a book format. I would love to read it again. I love ‘Seeking Solace’ and it’s about time for me to read through it again. 🙂 I pray that your strength returns and you are able to finish some of your projects. 🙂 Love and hugs to you, too! xoxo
Dear Gayl, what a powerful combination of talents! And how blessed you are to have talent and passion. For me, when I’m working on any project, and I begin to feel overwhelm or unsure, my best option is to step back for a minute and say a little prayer. The Lord wants to be an integral part of our lives. If something takes up our time, energy, and resources, God wants to be a part of it. Prayers and blessings for the Lord’s will with your project.
Thank you so much for your encouraging words, Alice! Yes, prayer is really the first thing we should do, isn’t it? I sometimes just start working and then I realize I haven’t prayed about it. Thank you for the reminder that God does want to be a part of what we do. He is the one who gives us the strength and wisdom and grace to follow through, because He is always with us.
Thanks for your prayers and thanks for visiting today! Many blessings to you!
I love how you share through haikus. It is a beautiful form of poetry. Your photos are gorgeous and I know how much I love taking pictures so I imagine it fuels you to do this where you live.
You always strike me as one who manages a good balance between work and play. I like following along hoping I will learn some of the same things. Blessings today!
Thank you, Mary! I appreciate very much your encouraging comments. Taking photos is a great way to remember things, and I know you love taking them, too 🙂 It’s fun to try different angles to find just the one you want to capture.
I do try to balance work and play, but I’m still a work in progress so I don’t always succeed. I think I’m leaning more and more how to balance it out.
Thanks so much for visiting! Blessings to you, Mary! xo
A good balance is so vital. The work and the play enrich each other.
I’ve had a book idea for some years and have done a little work on it, but it’s hard to make time when there’s so much to do every day. I used to write a ladies’ newsletter for our church which took a good chunk of one week a month. I’m no longer doing that, but I’ve thought what I probably need to do is take that time and apply it to the book. On weeks I had the newsletter to do, that took priority over blogging or other tasks. So I need to make that same kind of commitment to working on the book, either setting aside one week of the month or a day of the week or a few hours each week with that as the priority.
Oh, yes, I agree that they enrich each other. I love how you put that!
You sound like me with the way the book idea has gone. Like you mentioned, I need to make a commitment to work on it daily when possible, even if I only have a few minutes. Since each page is a photo and then a haiku opposite it, I could possibly work on one a day or at least set aside a few days each week to work on it. May God give us wisdom to be able to work on and get our books finished!
Blessings to you, Barbara! Thanks so much for your input here!
I’m so glad that it has refueled your interest instead of leaving you overwhelmed. Thanks, as always, for sharing via the #LMMLinkup, Gayl.
Yes, now if I can keep it up. 🙂 I really want to finish it by the end of the year. 🙂 Thanks for visiting, Tami! Many blessings to you!