Right now.. today.. April 20, 2009.. I would say that my life is more balanced than it has been for over four years, and it likely more balanced than it will be for the next four years. Most certainly... med school kept me so, so busy, and.. that’s right, up and coming, my residency starts in June. I’m now in a sort of respite period in-between the two, and it is *awesome.*

Yesterday was a Sunday; I made it a “take care of me” day. It was simply lovely. I got up and went on a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge with some friends. Two hours total - and took some pictures at the end for my “viva la california!” collection. I came home, started laundry, and cleaned my apartment for a few hours while listening to NPR and learning some cool new things (yep, nerd). I stopped at Nordstrom Rack for a few essential but cheap wardrobe items, Trader Joe’s for groceries, and then had my little hour-long meditation at church. I dropped off an overdue DVD, then came home to make some good dinner. I talked to the family. I downloaded a few pictures. I wrote a bit. I wrapped a birthday present. WOW.

What is bittersweet about this time in my life is that I know it’s coming to an end. This is not an entirely negative realization, but, it does make me think about this thing called balance. And it makes me contemplate... what does it mean to me? How important is it in my life? Is it what I crave, what I want, what I love? In some ways yes, and in some, no.

For me, I think the perfect combination is to come in and out of balance. To have periods of life to catch up, re-assess, clean up, make sure life doesn’t fall through one gigantic crack, strategize for the future, meet some guys, get to know the family again, eat some great food. But then.. you know what? I get bored. And what do I crave? Fast-paced, passionate, throw-yourself-in-head-first work. Or other life experience. Or anything intense, in which a sense of order does inevitably fall through cracks, and people wonder “where’d Cheri go?” The reason why I crave the latter is that feel this is where greatness lies, and this is when greatness happens.

The balance is so, so important. But the intensity, the greatness, is my passion. What I’ve come to realize, however, is that you can’t have one without the other. To always have the balance, to me, is boring. And to always have the fire leaves one stripped, but with a legacy. So I’ll bet you - I’ll just bet - that in my life, I’ll keep bouncing in between the two. Recovery, and a push, and a recovery, and then a push. And I hope that in this way, I’ll keep myself, and my life, both happy, and healthy!