is there a balance?

family
grad school
full time employment
training
friends
sleep

How do I find a good balance for it all?
How do I meet all of my goals that I've set for myself and still find the time and energy for everything else?

I don't think it's possible. I've come to the conclusion lately that I need to adjust my goals and expectations for myself so that I'm not living in a constant state of "could have" and disappointment... "I could have done better at my race" "I could have done better on my test" "I could have slept more..." etc... but what it boils down to with most of my "could haves" is that I just need to set more realistic goals for myself.

Instead of sitting down with my training plan and saying "Ok, I have 16 hours on the schedule, this is how I'm going to squeeze it into my life," I need to do is sit down and figure what I have going on in the week with my kids, my job, my school work, etc and say "Ok, I have 10 hours that I can spare for training this week" and work around that way. I need to be realistic abotu what I can and cannot do.

The same goes with racing... I need to set goals based on the time I have to train and with what resources I have. I have the tendency to set high goals for myself (whether on paper or in my head) and even though they're not always realistic (and I know this going into the race), I am still disappointed when I don't accomplish them.

I really just need to sit down and lay it all out. Next year will be different, though. That's for sure... but no, it won't be MORE training and racing. In fact, it will be less. But that's just in the works right now.

In the meantime, I am looking forward (already) to the weekend. I have a great afternoon planned for my family on Saturday afternoon. :D