(My blog friend Kelly at The Startup Wife often writes posts she peppers with images like this...I love it. I'm including a little peek into my birthday trip this past week into this post! All images were taken by my good friend Stuart at Sosmithy Design in Tulum, Mexico.)
Back from an AMAZING (amazing doesn't begin to describe it) week-long 30th birthday celebration with some of my nearest and dearest in Tulum, Mexico.

This was the first vacation I've taken in 3 years where I really spent a minimal amount of time working...even when I went to Thailand last year I spent a good deal of time on the computer just making sure everything at work was going well. That actually worked out pretty nicely...even though the build up to Thailand and the weeks following were a whirlwind of prep and stress, I liked being able to access my work stuff while I was there...

it gave me a great deal of peace of mind just knowing everything was going OK.
There were a lot of things going on work-wise this past week that I had to let fall by the wayside and take care of when I got home. Because I was there with such a great group of friends, I didn't want to hole up and work for too many hours, when so many people had traveled so far to be with me. It was incredibly fantastic, but I could just feel the nerves building up day upon day, as I scrambled to get done what I needed to get done in the few internet check-ins I made throughout the week.

Worry, worry, worry...even on vacation! Shameful.
I was having dinner with my friend Kathryn a few weeks ago and was joking about my lack of work-life balance.

She said that she'd been doing a lot of things lately in her life to achieve a good balance, and is even speaking on the subject at the upcoming Alt Summit in early 2012. I don't know why, but I have lived the past few years just thinking that being frazzled all the time was kind of part of the territory when you work in publishing.

Deadlines are quick, people demand responses to their inquiries almost immediately, and going slightly insane constantly just felt like it was supposed to be a normal part of my life.

But I'm thinking something needs to change---I worry about a lot of things I can't control, and what's the point? All that happens is that I worry a lot. Worry, worry, worry. Worry that is starting to manifest itself physically. I felt it imploding on me this week while I was away in Tulum. By the plane ride home I was a ball of nerves; last night I dreamed about Skype calls and meetings and apologizing profusely to many, many people.

My brain---I think it needs to be rewired soon, or I might really lose it!

My girlfriend on the trip pointed out how strange it was that I'd just let some parts of my personal life completely break down. I'm horrible about keeping in touch; I travel a lot and LITERALLY show up to the airport not knowing where I'm going or what I'm doing there.

I'm pretty on pointe when it comes to work life and travel, but if it has anything to do with my friends or personal life, I'm pretty much just a haze of a person that floats around and expects people to kind of pick up my slack.

My husband is my rock---he really kind of just takes care of me. "Did you remember to pack? Shower? Gather your travel docs? Do you know where you're going?" ... We left for the airport at 6AM last Saturday and I packed at 2AM.

I kind of just looked in my closet, threw a bunch of things that seemed beachworthy in my suitcase, and zipped it up. I brought about 3 days worth of clothes for the week. What the hell is wrong with me?

After feeling pretty successful with nutrition counseling earlier this year, I think it's time for me to seek counseling for work-life balance.

The idea of getting coaching on something like that would have seemed so silly in the past, but considering how just sitting down with a nutritionist for a few weeks changed my life, I think it'd be worthwhile to seek out some sort of professional help for life balance.

It feels like admitting a huge weakness, something that so many normal people seem to be able to do on their own, but I think it's time to just finally tackle this beast and figure out how to organize my personal life and strike a balance.

I only have this one life...I need to figure out how to live it.

Have you ever taken any workshops on work-life balance? Did you learn anything good from them, and do you have any coaches/workshops that you can recommend?