Live! Balance!

Originally published 3/1/2018 on Wordpress
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I turned 50 in February 2018 and started thinking about my life thus far. I have lead a relatively good life and have achieved quite a bit in the time I have been on earth. I have been married for 22 years to my best friend and have 2 amazing children- a 21 year old daughter and a 17 year old son. I am the oldest of 7 children to immigrant overachieving parents who pushed us all to be the very best at whatever we did. I have an incredible network of friends, family and colleagues and a job that I love. I'm now starting to think about my second act. As I sit here contemplating, two words continue to jump out at me- LIVE! and BALANCE! Well thats it! I can start a lifestyle blog about life balance. We as women work hard daily to balance and juggle all the different roles we play in life. But as I was told recently by a dear sister "... juggling is okay, but balance is so much better."  I hope to share with you in this blog how I live and balance.  It will seem difficult in the beginning but with time, I promise, it gets easier. The important thing is to realize that you don't have to be perfect and to get rid of that guilt associated with the X chromosome.

You see, I am a breast cancer surgeon. I have been in practice since 2000. I have witnessed daily first hand women dealt with a devastating diagnosis. Some are diagnosed early and have a good prognosis and many are diagnosed late. These are women like you and me who are wives, mothers, sisters, friends and some with high power jobs. These are for the most part women who have taken care of everyone else ahead of themselves for years. No one ever thinks they are going to get sick or die. We like to think we are immortal, but alas we are not.

I want us to journey together to LIVE! while we can and it is all in the way we balance. Let us go back to the time before spouses, children and jobs. Let us rediscover ourselves. We are by nature caretakers. But we cannot care for others if we don't take care of ourselves. I have a good friend who is fond of saying, "... if you die, he will remarry and your kids will be raised by someone else". Ouch!

I want us to not live in regret. Always thinking about the what ifs. Live life to the fullest while you can. You can order dinner in instead of cooking tonight. You can hire a cleaner instead of spending precious hours cleaning the house. Your kids will be okay with a sitter from time to time so you can go get a pedicure or get your hair done.

Happy hour with some girl friends could be what the doctor ordered.

Have you had your yearly pap smear or mammogram?

When was the last time you saw a movie?

Read a good book.

Travelled for fun.

Come with me. Lets balance while we LIVE!