Many of us are used to seeing people in movies who write for twelve hours at a time puffing on cigarettes and eating candy and one wonders….do I have to be like this to be successful as they are? I think a lot of writers, and even successful writers, are sporadic writers. By this I mean, they write and write to finish a deadline or book and then they retreat from writing for days or even weeks. But is this the kind of writer that you want to be? I know that I don’t. I want to be the kind of writer who takes care of her health and one who is productive too. I have been blessed with being productive. And I am having lots of success lately, which is really making me feel much more confident about myself as a writer. But how can one balance health and writing? I think one can answer this question by rethinking of their priorities in life. We all have so many duties and roles, don’t we? Here are a few of mine: wife, teacher, writer, researcher, volunteer at my church, and family member–just to name a few. All of these roles have duties and responsibilities–and all of them can take them away from what is most important–YOU. Notice in my list above–I didn’t mention my duties to myself. I wonder how many of us are in the same boat? How many of us really don’t take the time to put self-care on that list of duties and obligations in our lives. So, my new list is as follows: self-care, wife, teacher, writer, researcher, philosopher, family member, and volunteer. Naturally, there is a web of duties with each of our roles, and I have had to negotiate some of mine out of existence because I needed to make time for ME and my self-care. Remember it is not egotistical to take time to take care of yourself. Unless you do, you won’t be able to do any of the things that you do for others. And you won’t be happy or able to write either. So, take the time to reprioritize your priorities. You can’t afford not to do this. If you have a difficult time to do this, perhaps you should follow along as we commit to the challenge that Suzanne Lieurance has started for us. Just double-click on the following link: http://writebythesea.com/516/healthy-writers/take-the-writers-healthy-lifestyle-challenge/. Follow along on her blog or on this one as I keep letting you know how I am progressing. To your good health! Irene Roth