Find a balance in your life

NAIROBI: Way back in my primary schooling years, I found an interest in cookery.

I got my father to buy me a 200-page exercise book in which I wrote down recipes. The recipes were numbered — some were exotic, some were ordinary, like the githeri and matoke ones that had exceptionally colourful and bright pictures.

I pasted the pictures with glue right after the corresponding recipe, and my young world would salivate, looking forward to a time when my mother would prepare some of the food.

I baked my first cake when I was a teenager. It was a simple cake, and the ingredients I used were inspired by how much sugar or colour I wanted, and not by what the book said.

The gods were on my side, because the small cake came out just perfect.

I really do not know what happened with time, because somewhere along the way I could just not bake the perfect cake.

When I had a family, I found myself buying the cake mix to make my work easier. I started envying those who could bake from scratch.

Today, I am pleased to say that I am on my way to baking that perfect cake once more.

I am somehow perfecting the mixing of eggs and flour, and can proudly show off my cakes to my boys.

In the process of relearning, I am starting to realise that indeed, everything in life requires that perfect balance in order to function well.

Like with baking, that perfect balance is required in order to attain that much-needed work-life balance.

Having your priorities in order will obviously go a long way in creating that balance in your life. It will also help you gain more control over it and reduce your stress levels.

If the scales of work life balance are off, then either work or life will suffer, sometimes with far reaching consequences.

It is little wonder that employees are granted time off work on a yearly basis, and sometimes when they need it. Today, there is bonus time off and maternity comes with time off, even for the fathers.

That perfect balance is also required in social life, in bringing up children. It is important not to be too strict and also not to be too soft on your little ones.

It is also important to draw boundaries when dealing with family, friends and colleagues, so that one can maintain a healthy relationship with those in their circles.

You will need that balance when addressing your emotional, spiritual, social and physical health.

You cannot afford to sleep all you want, or to indulge all you want, or to become overly spiritual, lest you become a fanatic.

You can also not afford to eat all you want, lest you find yourself having to manage diabetes and hypertension at an older age.

Today is a good day to bake that perfect cake, to start working on that perfect balance.