On Wednesday, I promised to discuss some of the options I've explored for trying to find better balance in my life. As I mentioned in that post, I've grown to accept that I will never get to "even" — a place where I'm completely caught up.

Option #1 is the status quo — continuing to have too much on my plate, pushing myself to do as much as possible. While that has some appeal, it's really just not sustainable in the long run. At some point, I fall over and collapse and NOTHING gets accomplished.

Option #2 is not taking on any new tasks until the backlog of work has receded somewhat. This may be the best idea, but it would mean that I have to give up things that would be enjoyable to me — like visits with friends or other community events.

Option #3 is cancelling some of the things already on my to-do list, including backing out of things I've agreed to do for other people. In all honesty, this is my least favorite option because I hate to disappoint people and leave them in the lurch.

Option #4 is a riff on how I deal with de-cluttering my house. I gather everything in one place and discard the things I know I don't want (that community meeting I didn't want to attend, a museum exhibit that was a maybe, etc.). Then, I start tackling the things still on my list as efficiently as possible. All the while, I exercise as much control as I can about adding things to the list. So, I may accept a theater date with a dear friend, but say no to a race whose major appeal is a cool shirt. Hopefully, over a reasonable amount of time (say, a year), I can whittle the list down to a reasonable degree. And, by then, I'll be practiced in saying no to new additions.

Since Option #4 is working brilliantly with reducing my stockpile of beauty products and magazines, I'm going to give it a try. Step #1 will be creating the comprehensive list. I'm giving myself until May 31st to do that. I'll report back here on my progress.