Balanced life = impossible?

[Dragonsreach]

Balanced life --- (yeah right what one of those!)
I\'ve been married for nearly 25 years (No kids .... besides my wife recons I\'m too much of a child to start with).
To paint it\'s only at weekends and the occaisional day off work (I accrue Flexi-time to take as additional leave) And yes my wife is a long suffering model widow. While she\'s not interested in painting or gaming she does offer constructive criticsim on figures.

Oh Yes, she really has strong opinions on some of the figures we\'ve seen together on CMON. (she often sits beside me when I\'m browsing from home) Thank goodness she doesn\'t vote or comment she\'d be blacklisted.
:innocent:

[Big Mean Elf]

Seriously bros...I think that to be VERY good at this you have to LOVE IT,plan & simple.
:]
For example my paint work is not that good,becuase I don`t like to paint!

I like to build things more,to create something, from nothing but raw materials.

Coloring was fun once,before I discovered I could make these things,see them come to shape in my hands,very fun and cool to do,IMHO!

Painting is just less involved and boreing for me now,so my skills have slipped in it...

:idea:

So I see these post \"girl friend this\"& \"wife that\"...blah!

...My woman respects my right to do what I do,with little or no BS about it...

:flame:

If your women are so greedy and so insecure,why are you with them?

:wow:

Anyhow...we ALL MAKE time for what we want to do....so these excuses don`t fly...

\"I have a life\"!

Well hee,hee...so do all the rest of us that happen to be breathing.

lol

This is just a fun thing to do for some of us,BUT...

... for others it is a way of life.

:innocent:

Peace!
:cool:

[ZeCorto]

Of course you can have a balanced life, just set your priorities straight from the start because all hobbies are time consuming and kids even more (I have 3 myself).
Fill your agenda like you would fill a suitcase: put the big items first and fit the smaller ones later. My big items are my family and friends, smaller are work and painting, then even smaller are other hobbies, tv, ... Just think: \"what are my biggest priorities ?\" and fit them into your agenda first.
All the rest is easy (you wish...)

[AstroLabe]

originally posted by Vincegamer: \"you are less likely to have the hobby take over your life than to have it wander away\"


What could be more intuitive than this statement? Too many of life\'s distractions turn into full time things, like work, family, and other related life--stuff. I\'m married six years, have a four year old, and teach in the NYC Dept. of Ed. Talk about having little time and patience left for anything! I struggle to try and post pics since I joined the sight, but life definitely takes over! I try to paint three or four times a week (even if it is only for an hour or so) but more often paint once or twice/wk.
Since I carved out a space in the apartment complete with rolltop, file cabinet, storage bins, and lights, I find my daughter fascinated with the whole thing. I bought her a plastic art desk and a bag of small plastic farm hands and animals (similar in size and feel to little green army men); she paints, then displays her work proudly on the kitchen table (needless to say, I clean up a lot of paint).
My wife, on the other hand, does not appreciate stepping on plastic cows, goblins, knights, or whatever else the cats get a hold of. This is where I start reciting the vows--for better or worse, sickness or health, whatever.
Overall, I take the balance day by day and try to get a little time in for me...

[Spanky]

Your question made me think of the movie I was watching with my 3 yr. old this afternoon, \"Alice in Wonderland\". The question your asking is really one only you can answer. How far do you want to chase the white rabbit down the hole? This hobby can be an addiction (not nessecarily a bad one) that can eat up lots of your time. But it can eat up time that wasn\'t productive anyway, ie; barhopping, tv watching, ect. Or it can give you an excuse for much needed alone time. Taken too far however, you end up painting/looking at minis/thinking of minis when you should be studying/working/making human contact and things can suffer. I have a fairly unique situation: I paint almost exclusively at work:D
Now before you all get a hangin rope, let me \'splain. I am a full time firefighter and I work 24hrs and am off 48. on those 48, I work anywhere between 12 and 36hrs part time at another fire department. There can be lots af time when nothing is happening, so instead of sitting in front of the tv like everyone else, I paint.
Heres the downside:
EVERYTHING I need is packed in my car and has to go with me. If i forget it at home, I\'m S.O.L.
It very unpredictable.
No one at work understands what I\'m doing or why I\'m doing it. ever.
I take alot of grief and harrasment (good natured) from my extended family (co- workers).
Lots of things go wrong when you have to respond to an emergency for several hours and leave your hobby mid-work. Paints and green stuff dries, glue sets and co-workers hide things or make obscene objects with your left over green stuff :o

Spanky