Hiatus

I've alluded to it in several posts over the past few months, but my work life is absolutely nuts right now. I'm compartmentalizing the chaos as much as I can, but I'm only capable of juggling so much fire at once! Balancing my work and personal life is still happening, but it's a delicate dance.

Work is progressively eating into more and more of what was supposed to be "free" time and "vacation" time as the days wear on. I keep thinking it can't possibly get worse, and yet it does.

You know that infograph of the path to success? Where your perceived path to success is linear but the actuality is a jumbled, chaotic mess? In this instance, the path from "normal" to "shitstorm" has been a very steep, linear line that has progressed from March to the present. It's just like life to make the difficult things simple and the fun things difficult.

I love this space and I like to put time and thought into my posts. But balancing this space with the rest of my life right now has become increasingly difficult. Sadly, it's become a huge chore to write, edit, add media, and schedule/publish a post after my high-stress work days that involve a lot of technical scientific writing.

We're all busy people. We all lead chaotic lives and still somehow manage to balance our passions (horse and otherwise) with life's other responsibilities. Many of us also live with/support others who live similarly busy lives and end up being influenced by them, as well. And that's awesome! Being busy often lends fulfillment to us that outweighs the stress that piggybacks the nature of "being busy".

But amidst all of this, we need to make time for ourselves so we can maintain mental and physical health. Right now, I need to limit certain areas of my life to maintain a healthy balance in others. As much as I try, I am not superwoman and I cannot do everything, nor should I feel pressure to! I need to practice some compassion toward myself right now.

Unfortunately, blogging is one of those things that will be temporarily limited until my job slows down in October (if things go well...). Fortunately, my hiatus only applies to writing and not actual "experiencing". Griffin and I are scheduled to head to our next event this weekend, I have multiple trail rides planned to enjoy the beautiful fall landscape, I'm signed up to run my annual 5k charity race in 2 weeks, I've got multiple climbing trips in the works, and numerous other Very Exciting Things are in the forecast.

I hope to return to this space in a month or so and I'll do my best to read along with your adventures in the mean time. If you're a fan of Instagram, definitely follow along on the adventures there (@estout18) - it's the one form of social media I truly keep up with these days.

I wish you all well and look forward to catching back up with you when I'm juggling fewer flaming balls of fire.