Each stage of our lives has unique benefits. The single life brings freedom, but a lack of companionship. The married life brings companionship, but the inability to run from trouble. The life of a parent brings joy in new live, but difficulty in maintaining your own schedule.

It isn’t that one phase is better than the other, they each clearly have their advantages. It is the struggles that we have to get through.

I could have never imagined how much my son would impact my schedule. When you have a newborn who loves to be held, it can be quite hard to get anything done! He wants to be held, but the laundry needs to be done and the kitchen cleaned. There is a balance that must be struck, otherwise we’re sunk

The need to balance is universal experience of men. When you are single, you seek to balance time alone with time with friends. As a married man, you balance work and family life. As a parent, you balance playtime and the needs of the family.

While we know we need balance, we have no hope of achieving it if we don’t take care of the things that we need to do in order to know we are successful. For example, you might determine a day to be successful if you were able to pray and exercise. We all need to have daily goals to keep up on track, but with limited time, how can we accomplish this balance?

The answer is that you have to make time. You need to determine the absolute essentials and pursue them relentlessly daily. Maybe this means getting up an hour earlier or staying up an hour later. Maybe your lunch hour gets extended and you knock out some objectives.

You and your wife are a team. Motivate each other and cover for each other. If she needs a bath at the end of the day, then cover her duties while she takes that time. If you need to work out in the morning, maybe she starts getting the kids ready.

If you are taking care of yourself and she is taking care of herself, you’ll both be better off. So do what you need to do to make sure you’re both checking off your to-do lists!

Tags: Wellness