Balance.
There is an interesting word.
A simple concept, but like so much of life, much harder to put into practice and live by. Look it up in the dictionary and you get words like equilibrium, harmony, calmness.
Does that describe your life?
Or does it feel more like you are living an unbalanced life?
I worked for many years as a physiotherapist (physical therapist). During those years, I worked with many patients to help them regain balance as a pre-requisite for standing and walking, things many of us take for granted until we cannot, for whatever reason, do them.
A lack of physical balance creates tension elsewhere in the body from over-compensating. Some muscles become overworked and painful, some become wasted through lack of use. Everything is harder and requires more mental and physical effort. Practice is needed, mistakes often made, and ultimately a lack of balance can lead to a fall. The costs of living an unbalanced life for too long can be very high.
Any of this sound familiar at all?
Living an unbalanced life.
Sometimes our lives can be like that – certain areas of our lives are overworked, stretched to breaking point, sources of tension. Other areas are neglected, wasting away.
If you do a wee stock take of your own life just now to what extent are you living an unbalanced life? Where are the points of tension as a result?
Perhaps not enough time with your nearest-and-dearest, despite recognising them as important in your life. Or maybe not enough time for you, doing simple things that you love that restore your soul. Quite possibly too much time scurrying around doing urgent things at the cost of what is important. There is no judgement here, this is not to induce guilt or shame.
But until we stop and notice, until we take time become aware, we are not in a position to make any changes.
Like learning any new skill, balance takes practice. It always starts with an awareness of how satisfied you are with your current life balance, and then a choice to do something about it.
So what can we do to address unbalanced living?
It helps to break the situation down into more manageable chunks. As with everything in life to do with our own self development, I believe there is no such thing as a quick fix. And when we try to change too many things at once, often we change nothing and end up more frustrated than when we started.
We can do a simple stock take of our lives, in different sections. I often give clients a Life Balance Assessment as part of their intake forms as this allows us to step back from life and take a snapshot of what is actually going on at present. This objective, bigger picture view is really helpful to see the specific areas where we want to make changes without feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.
There are lots of different ways to do this, ranging in size and complexity.
But it generally helps to look at our physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, organisational, and spiritual (in the broadest sense) well-being.
This week, as you go about your normal life and business, take note of where you feel unbalanced. What areas are overworked and not serving you well? What areas need attention?
Living an unbalanced life comes at a high cost. But as we start to notice where the balance is off, we can make different and more positive choices.