In my life, I wear the hat of spouse, mother, grandmother (of eight and it is the absolute blast), daughter, sister, business owner, friend, gardener, Great Dane and cat caregiver, bird feeder, volunteer and perpetual learner.  Trying to fill the role of each of these can be a daunting task.  Maintaining balance across all of them is difficult if not impossible.

The Juggling Act

If I try to balance all of them, I find myself becoming mediocre at some.  Mediocrity across all the roles does not work for me.   It only causes more stress.  What I’ve learned is there is an ebb and flow to the level of my involvement in all these roles.  When I have to focus on certain roles, I  remind myself it is OK to put others “hats” on the shelf for a bit.  (Obviously, you cannot do this with your children, although you may like to.)  I’ve also learned that there are ways that I can incorporate just a bit of time in my day for certain roles like life-long learner.  I’ve learned to make use of drive time to listen to audio tapes of things that interest me.  My car has a traveling library of audio tapes that I have to move when I put on my “grandma hat” and trade car seats for audio tapes.  I fill my iPod with educational programs, subliminal tapes and meditation programs and listen at night while falling asleep or while I’m traveling on a airplane, or walking the dog.

What “hats” do you wear?.  How do you manage your “hats?’  What tips or tricks have you learned that could help others?  Please share your thoughts so we all can learn.

Crossing my fingers

Questioning why I am not further. And much, much more. And crossing my fingers.

You see, I’m no different than everyone else who is working on achieving their goals, building the life they desire, and family harmony. We all want to reach our goals.  We all want to have the life we dream about.  But I know from my own life that sometimes it just feels like “I’m the only one struggling with this.” or “Why is this so hard?  Everyone else seems to get it so easily.” or ” How come I am not getting what I want as fast as others get what they want? or “Why do family or work needs keep taking priority over what I want to accomplish?”

Being Authentic is Important

I want this blog to be authentic and a place where readers can find resources that help them on their journey to strengthening the harmony in their life, family and work.

You see, I believe that the people we believe are successful — business owner, celebrities, happily married folks, etc.  — have all experienced their own personal demons and difficult times.  They just stuck with it and figured out how to get through and get better.  That is what this blog is all about.  Helping you to get through whatever is holding you back and get better at strengthening the harmony in your life, family and work.

I don’t know where this journey is taking me.  I only know that I was given the idea — somehow it floated into my head and at least I was wise enough to “hear it.”  Up until now, I have been reluctant to truly embrace it and take action to take the idea to the world.

But now I am taking action.  I hope “the world” will welcome the idea and use the resources to take action in their own lives.

The  purpose  of this blog (StrengthenTheHarmonyBlog.com) is to

Strengthen the Harmony Workbook

provide articles, resources and of course comments from the readers about topics and ideas that strengthen the harmony in your life, family and work.

We all have many things that can cause stress in our lives.  It could be our kids, aging parents, workloads that are increasing, finances, relationships with our spouse, personal goals that seem to always be out of reach or put on the back burner.  It could be trying to revamp our lifestyle to be healthier or trying to learn a new skill (like blogging) or settling into or out of a job.

Any one of these things can add stress to our life.  Any one of these things can cause us to lose focus. Any one of these things can be the last straw that sends us over the edge. That’s why I finally took the leap.  I finally decided it was time that I put this idea out there.

So what you will find on this blog are articles, ideas, tips and even humor to help you strengthen the harmony in your life, family and work. I don’t have the answers.  But I do believe that as we share our thoughts, ideas and support one another, we will discover and uncover answers that will help us strengthen the harmony in our lives.

I know I sure need more harmony — especially in the financial area.  Developing StrengthenTheHarmony.com, ShopliftingIsStealing.com, Whalen.com and ItStartsWithUs.com has definitely drained my resources.

I  am certain that by providing quality information and serving others, it will be replenished.  I’m still looking forward to the adventure.

Judy Whalen

I finally took the leap, mastered the technology (well, almost mastered) and launched this blog.  Let me tell you, it was a leap.   I hear so many people talking about how they write, read and comment on blogs.  I’ve had internet marketing coaches tell me to just put up a blog and start interacting with people.  Well, it seemed to take me more time than most people.  You see, I needed to develop the strategy of how the Strengthen the Harmony webinar and this blog and fit into my overall business.  In my offline world (whalen.com), I am a consultant working with businesses and nonprofits to help them develop strategies to be successful.  So I needed time to get the strategy piece to come together.  But I also needed time to convince myself that I could master the technology and learn the interaction piece. You see I am “old school.”   My professional life started long before computers were on every desk or before you could research your marketplace or get feedback from your customer by “tweeting.”   Back in those days we developed elaborate plans about getting feedback.  Today you get feedback instantaneously.  So that is the leap!   I am jumping off the “old school bus” and hopping on the “new school bus.”   I’m opening myself and my ideas up for comments and instantaneous response.   I have to be honest, I have a bit of trepidation.  But nothing ventured, nothing gained.  So here I go.…. Welcome to the Strengthen the Harmony blog.  I look forward to this adventure.