Is There Such a Thing as Balance?
With many of us turning to breathing exercises and meditation apps we are seeking a way to find balance in our lives.
Meditation apps saw a year-over-year increase of 52% from 2018 to 2019, according to Sensor Tower’s data, growing to $195 million in revenue. The fast-paced “I can do it all, and then some” mindset often leads to a need to pause and breathe.
My career is fast-paced, demanding, rewarding and requires both creativity and a go-go-go spirit. I have small children which requires patience, resilience, and all of what my career requires. I believe in health and self-care. How do I find balance with those demands? Does balance exist? I’ve learned four things about finding balance in my life that makes me a believer:
Find a way to be forgiving of yourself and others.
Occasionally an entire day will be blissfully perfect in every way. Other days are quite the opposite, while most are in between. This leaves a lot of days where I need to tap into my grit and resilience. The way I’ve found that I feel balanced, or centered, is by forgiving myself for whatever minor thing I forgot or did less than perfect. I tell myself “I will do better next time”, a lesson I share with my children during extreme moments of sibling rivalry, and I carry on.
Be present.
I have found that being in the moment is the best way to get out of the moment in a better place. This one is very simple: pick your head up and look around. Connect with nature on a walk, meditate, listen to your coworkers and clients with complete focus, recognize how you are feeling when that big project is getting delayed. Be aware. Realize that whatever the moment is, it will be gone in a flash, good or bad. This is an extremely grounding practice that makes me feel that I was a part of my day.
I have had 15-hour workdays when I stop at the end of it and feel like I missed the whole thing. Being present in each moment would have allowed me to know what the weather was like, what my boss was trying to tell me, what my client might have needed, how I should have pivoted, and so on.
Keep on achieving.
Finding balance does not mean slowing down completely. It doesn’t mean taking three hours a day to mediate. To me, it means keeping the drive to get ahead but pacing myself. Like in a relay race, sprint towards your goals, pass the baton (to your colleague, to your spouse, add to your to do list for tomorrow), pause to reflect and get ready for when it’s passed back to you.
Balance is unique to each person.
Balance is an internal state of mind. It’s a combination of listening to your gut when it’s telling you “nicely done - you are doing the right things” and “avoid that – that’s not serving you at all” and doing something about it. Neurobiological Research has revealed that there is a complex communication system between the millions of neurons embedded in our gut walls and the limbic brain that guides our decision making. Your gut is worth listening to.
What’s right for me based on my intuition is different than another person’s. For me, I feel most balanced when I have shown up at work, at home and for myself in whatever way suits the day, while knowing I’m moving towards my goals even if the pace varies. For others, the formula will surely be different, and that’s the point, it’s unique to each of us.
I believe that there is such a thing as balance, but it’s fluid. I see it like a see-saw. We perpetually go up and down at different paces depending on the day, the force on the other side, and how eager we are. We will sit in balance for a split second, then continue, hopefully appreciating that it’s still our turn on the ride.
Written by:
NATALIE JACKSON
Natalie is a Practice Pirector at Excelerate with over 18 years of experience supporting large and small organizations, and over 25 years of experience eating a plant-based diet.