Nine to Thrive turns one: How do you like your work/life balance now?

Before we slide into June I thought it worth noting that May marked the one-year anniversary of this blog. And I wanted to take a quick trip down memory lane to revisit some of the ground Nine to Thrive has covered in the past year.

When this blog made its May 15, 2008 debut, my editors and I were focused on addressing career satisfaction (who has it? and how can the rest of us get it?) and the juggling act of balancing professional life with personal life. Early topics ranged from dream jobs and flexible work to coworking and babies in the workplace.

Then summer 2008 hit and gas prices skyrocketed. So we began to talk a bit more about telecommuting, four-day workweeks, alternatives to commuting by car, and self-employment. But by fall 2008, when the recession went into overdrive and companies began hemorrhaging jobs like a bad TV medical drama, our focus shifted to topics like making the most of a furlough, preparing for a layoff, and living more simply.

By the end of 2008, many work/life balance bloggers and journalists found themselves asking whether the crummy economy meant curtains for the work/life balance strides the country had made during the past decade. In my predictions for the top work/life balance stories of 2009, I pooh-poohed this idea and many of you agreed. Instead, we collectively suspected that work and life would continue to bleed all over each other for decades to come. (Don't believe it? Then believe this guy.)

Since the start of 2009, I've been trying my darndest not to let this blog get too mired in the troubling employment statistics we hear in the news week after week. Instead, I'm trying to find the positives of this challenging new economic reality we find ourselves in, from the upside of retiring later and the lesser-known pros of working a second job to the beauty of underachieving and the thrill of carving out a brand spanking new career you actually enjoy.

Along the way you -- and my patient editors -- have also allowed me to blather on (and on and on) about three of my favorite topics: freelancing, dealing with health insurance when you're not an employee, and trying (however vainly) to tame the 24/7 digital beast. (I thank you all.)

As Nine to Thrive heads into its second year, I plan to keep writing about career satisfaction; flexible and home-based work; work/life balance issues, policies, and practices; and of course, vacations. But I would love your input too.

Specifically, I'd love to know how your work/life balance has changed during the past year. For the better? The worse? Not at all? In addition, I've love to hear what topics, tips, and interviews you'd like to see covered on this blog.

Thanks for your continued support, and enjoy the rest of this gorgeously sunny week.

Freelance writer Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail her at ninetothrive@nwjobs.com.