I have been struggling lately finding balance in my life. For short period of time, I was able to focus most of my time on my family, but I wasn't doing enough for myself and I was not happy. When I decided to focus more on myself and swim more often, I wasn't very happy with how much time I was spending away from my family. The past few months, work interrupted my swimming schedule and other life happenings required most of my focus; now my swimming has been much less than what I want it to be. I want to find a happy balance between all three. I know that compared to some of you that I am still young, but I worry that my life is slipping away and I am not enjoying it as much as I can.
I am curious as to how to find that magical balance and be happy with all three, or if I am looking for something that does not exist. Thanks.
Parents
Former Member
Wow what a massive subject… This is VERY close to my heart right now as I am in “negotiations” with my wife as to what is reasonable or healthy in terms of training/exercise! Over the last few years the volume, intensity and seriousness of my training has increased and I am now dedicated to turning myself from a reasonable to a competitive swimmer in my 50’s. So what does this mean to me? Well it means focus, dedication and sometimes sacrifice…
Like others here I have a growing family (2 x boys 14 & 16) and of course a wife! I have a demanding job in the corporate telecoms sales sector looking after a high value sales team. It is a triangle – family, work, self. For me the “self” is pretty much defined by exercise and swimming. I have been criticised in the past as being obsessive and I guess this is true but I would say in a good way :)
So the question is - is it valid for people like me (and maybe you) to strive for excellence through sport when we have other commitments (family/job). Now I know it won’t be the same for all of you, but I want to do the best that I can do – and to do that I need to train a lot of hours.
So how do I do that? My alarm goes off at between 4:40-5:10 each working day :bed: and I train for up to 90mins before work. This means I don’t see my family in the morning but this is a relatively small price to pay. I then work permitting I try to get out to the gym or the pool at lunchtime as often as is possible and sometime train on the way home which can make me late – but this is only once or twice a week. Then at weekends I get up early both days as I try to minimise the impact on the family. If it fits in with everybody else, I might try to swim on one or both days!
Writing this down does make me realise how tenuous this all is – it is very hard and of course there are other consequences too! As any full time athlete will tell you, training very hard makes you very tired and when you are tired you can be more stressed. So the hidden consequences of excessive exercise (yes I have admitted it) is in relationships, quality of interaction and of course energy and stamina for other things…
So I guess if you are like me and want to train as hard as is necessary to reach your goal, then you need to find a very kind and understanding person who “buys into” your dream and will support through the good and the bad times. Maybe it’s not quite as dramatic as I paint it, but as I said at the top this is a massive issue for older athletes with multiple levels of responsibility!
Wow what a massive subject… This is VERY close to my heart right now as I am in “negotiations” with my wife as to what is reasonable or healthy in terms of training/exercise! Over the last few years the volume, intensity and seriousness of my training has increased and I am now dedicated to turning myself from a reasonable to a competitive swimmer in my 50’s. So what does this mean to me? Well it means focus, dedication and sometimes sacrifice…
Like others here I have a growing family (2 x boys 14 & 16) and of course a wife! I have a demanding job in the corporate telecoms sales sector looking after a high value sales team. It is a triangle – family, work, self. For me the “self” is pretty much defined by exercise and swimming. I have been criticised in the past as being obsessive and I guess this is true but I would say in a good way :)
So the question is - is it valid for people like me (and maybe you) to strive for excellence through sport when we have other commitments (family/job). Now I know it won’t be the same for all of you, but I want to do the best that I can do – and to do that I need to train a lot of hours.
So how do I do that? My alarm goes off at between 4:40-5:10 each working day :bed: and I train for up to 90mins before work. This means I don’t see my family in the morning but this is a relatively small price to pay. I then work permitting I try to get out to the gym or the pool at lunchtime as often as is possible and sometime train on the way home which can make me late – but this is only once or twice a week. Then at weekends I get up early both days as I try to minimise the impact on the family. If it fits in with everybody else, I might try to swim on one or both days!
Writing this down does make me realise how tenuous this all is – it is very hard and of course there are other consequences too! As any full time athlete will tell you, training very hard makes you very tired and when you are tired you can be more stressed. So the hidden consequences of excessive exercise (yes I have admitted it) is in relationships, quality of interaction and of course energy and stamina for other things…
So I guess if you are like me and want to train as hard as is necessary to reach your goal, then you need to find a very kind and understanding person who “buys into” your dream and will support through the good and the bad times. Maybe it’s not quite as dramatic as I paint it, but as I said at the top this is a massive issue for older athletes with multiple levels of responsibility!
