Striving for Balance (Weekend Freewrite Single Prompt Option: phone)

As children, few demands tug at us for their attention. There may be a couple of daily chores, and homework eventually invades most of our lives, but the biggest decision regarding how I, as a child, spent my time was often a choice between playing in the creek or reading a book. As we age, life gets more complex. Throughout high school I juggled school, homework, piano and band instrument practice, and school clubs and organizations. I had no social life, so that wasn't part of the decision-making process. College was largely a repeat of high school, with the addition of cooking and cleaning in my little apartment.

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Then came marriage, and babies, and suddenly half an hour with a good book was an absolute luxury. Practicing the piano was squeezed in when possible. Home schooling for 20 years meant giving up more of my wants in favor of the must-dos. (Not that I regret it, because I don't.) Somehow I found time to keep a photo album more or less up to date. I got around the book-reading issues by reading aloud my favorites.

Now my children are all young adults; one of them is married and has provided my only grandchild. I don't currently work outside the home. One would think I would have hours of time at my disposal to do what I wish, including spending time on Steemit. Yet it doesn't work out that way! I spend time with my granddaughter, volunteer a couple of places, do what I can for my husband (who isn't in the best of health), spend an amazing amount of time listening to my youngest process life over the phone, and the days simply fly by. I was warned that time goes faster as we age, but I wasn't quite prepared to deal with that! I have also found out what others older than I already knew: everything takes longer the older we get. And I need a lot of sleep.

Bearing all of that in mind, I want to say once again how much I enjoy my time on Steemit, especially doing freewrites. But that, too, takes time which I don't always seem to find. For a little while I stressed about it. I want to be active with the freewriters, and read lots of posts, and make oodles of comments, and write my own silly stories. But some days it just doesn't work out that way. (Winter has proven to be the best season for lots of Steemit participation, because the great outdoors does not beckon to me.)

Furthermore, I am currently following 69 Steemit accounts. I want to check in on each of them at least once a week; if I don't, then what's the point of following them? If I check in on 10-15 per day, I can keep up. And some of them don't post very often. But then I may not have time to read lots of freewrites, especially the newbies who I am not yet following because I don't know they exist because I don't have time to discover them!

I'd be interested to know how the rest of you deal with these dilemmas, especially those of you who are over 60. I want Steemit to remain fun for me. I don't want it to become a chore, or something that causes me stress. I want to be an active member of the Steemit community without shortchanging other parts of my life. Suggestions welcome!

P.S. I have managed to fit this into the freewrites today by looking at the single-prompt options after the fact, and discovering I have mentioned the phone. That's just plain backwards, and pretty dang close to cheating, but it serves my purpose for today!