FRANCES SHARES HER STORY

If Frances ever gets bored in her professional life as a senior human resources generalist for a utility in Pensacola, she could always join the circus and enjoy a successful career as a high-wire performer. She’s that good at leading a well-balanced life.

But the truth is this 61-year-old HR professional isn’t about to join the circus because she loves the job she’s been doing for the past 20 years, and she has mastered the art of keeping a balance between her work life and her personal life. Listening to Frances talk about her life is like watching someone keeping their balance while traversing the high wire of a very busy life.

“I enjoy interacting with people,” she begins, “being able to tell them good news that they’re hired, and if somebody doesn’t get a job I don’t mind giving them pointers to help them find and do a better job the next time around. I feel that it’s important for people to have happiness in their life and doing a job that they enjoy. To me, that’s the best situation, if you can have a job you enjoy.”

“There’s a work-life balance that you have to have,” she adds. “I mean work stuff at work and home stuff at home. You know, once in a while they cross but for the most part, I don’t come in on Saturdays. So I think it’s important to take time for your family and for your own peace of mind to have that time away from work. Even if you enjoy your job I think it’s important to have that separation.”

The “home stuff” she mentions is filled with anecdotal evidence of a beautiful beach life on the Florida Panhandle and weekend motorcycle joyrides with a husband who is pretty much a polar opposite of herself. “I’m from the beaches and love sunshine, and Greg is from Colorado and loves the mountains,” Frances reports, obviously totally happy with such differences and totally capable of keeping them in balance.

“I also like to do family genealogy,” she says, recalling a trip she and Greg took to Italy. “We got to the town in Sicily where my grandfather was born. I just can’t explain it but there’s a bond that you have with those places, where you know your ancestors came from.”

Another thing that keeps her focused and fulfilled is the poetry she loves to write. One of them, “Awaiting Adventures,” offers a window into her whole approach to life, “Ready and open to absorb and receive, day to day miracles, wonders, revelations.”

About five years ago, Frances began to notice some mild slippage in her memory, and she decided to try Prevagen. “I saw a change,” she says. “I saw some of the struggles that I had had were diminishing.”

And so Frances stays balanced up there on her high wire, enjoying every step she takes forward, guided by her belief that “the way life treats you is a merciless mirror image of your attitude towards life.”