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Balance…What’s That?

Dear Drunch Bunch: Today’s post comes courtesy of Guest Blogger Angie Mizzell. Angie’s packed more into her first quarter of living than most of us manage in a lifetime, and has graciously agreed to become a regular visitor here at The Drunch. I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know her below, and be sure to click the link and check out her personal blog as well. Enjoy!

I used to work in TV news, and during that time, I developed an ear for “sound bites.” I could instantly detect when the person I was interviewing said something meaningful in 15 seconds or less. It didn’t matter what they said before and after that; if I got the sound bite, I was good to go.  So today, when someone asks me, “What do you do?” I feel the pressure to answer in a simple sentence, before their eyes glaze over and they start searching for a stiff drink and someone more interesting to talk to.

The short story is I’m a mom of the 3-year-old and 3-month-old, and I’ve finally figured out I want to be a writer when I grow up. The whole story is so much bigger than that, but I want you to stick around, so I’ll spare you the gory details. I guess this is my payback for cutting out huge chunks of other people’s stories to fit the allotted segment time.

In my late 20’s, I left my TV news job in the pursuit of happiness. I didn’t have kids yet, but I knew I didn’t want to be married to my pager and forced to work nights, weekends and holidays after I started my family. At the time I was clueless that having kids was also a round the clock job.

I’ve been self-employed ever since. This is the part where I leave out a lot of details. Come to think of it… it looks like I’ve had a few stiff drinks when I wrote my resume. As I’ve tried to find balance between living the dream and paying the bills, I’ve changed my mind, and my direction, a lot.

Life teaches me something every day. One thing I’ve learned, balance is overrated. The older I get, the more I realize life is messy. It’s one thing to say I want it all, and it’s another to determine what that really is. Each day I must choose what’s really important and let go of the things that are not. To me, it’s like a dance. Feeling the rhythm, not controlling the steps.

The occasional cocktail helps, too.

You can follow my journey and join the conversation at my blog, Under the MAC.

Posted in Guest Posts, Rants & Raves.

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2 Responses

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  1. Bells says

    Oh yeah, the odd cocktail helps a lot! Nice to meet you Angie. I wanna be a writer too!

  2. angie mizzell says

    Nice to meet you, too. I look forward to conversations and cocktails via the blogosphere!



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