There are two types of stress; anxiety/frustration stress and exhaustion stress.

The first type I tackle with ruthless perception; I NEVER allow anxiety or frustration to take hold - I stop myself the minute I start to feel the precursor emotions - I disconnect from my immediate situation (take a time out) and re-evaluate the stupidity of my perceptions - that invariably causes me to laugh, and then I can pick up where I was without the adrenal baggage.

The second type is what some folks call "burn out" stress. It's when you find yourself watching the clock, dreading getting out of bed in the morning, etc. It is much more insidious, because we "write it off" so easily. That type of stress is dealt with by changing your environment completely - if you are clock watching - get up and leave!! Even if it's in the middle of a meeting, and go have a massage at a spa, or a walk in the park, or a base jump off the roof! Something completely OTHER. In the case of the dreads in the morning, those happen when you allow exhaustion stress to accumulate - smack yourself for letting it get out of hand - do a base jump (or a spa retreat) immediately - and re-evaluate what the heck you are doing with your days.

Balance is a question of being in harmony with your desires - if your desires are being met as you work 80 hour weeks (your desires obviously don't include a healthy family life) and your stress is low (well managed) then you are leading a balanced lifestyle - Professional managers golf and sail, entrepreneurs build businesses - it's all recreation!!

Don't forget, excitement IS stress (medically speaking), stress isn't bad, only ignored stress. Animals don't die from fight/flight responses - only humans do - because they ignore them, and suffer the physiological damage caused by the unused overdoses of adrenals and neurotransmitters.

Oh yeah - I can find something to laugh about almost anywhere - serotonin is wonderful for stress!