Balance

Life requires balance, in a variety of ways.  We need to balance work and play, what we eat, what we do with our free time, how we socialize, and so forth. In what ways are your life in balance, or maybe needing a tune up?

Ponder for a moment what balance feels like to you.  What runs through your mind when you are balanced? Where are you? What have you been doing with your time? What is your balance of accomplishments versus your task list? Do you balance over the course of a day, week or month?

Balance likely changes as people in our lives hit developmental milestones.  When we have babies, they require constant attention and supervision.  Then, one magical day, we can take a shower. Alone. A few years later you can leave your child alone while you get the mail. A few years later you can leave your child alone in the house for a bit while you do [insert something awesome here]. Your ability to concentrate on work/friendships/life goals will vary as your child grows.

On a smaller scale, a semester is a type of developmental cycle. Your semester may start balanced: good eating and sleeping, good social times, enough time to do school work.  Then as the semester wraps up, you spend far more time on school work, papers, and exams than ever before, and less time eating well and sleeping. Then there is the terror of finals week, and right after that you suddenly have a lot of free time. You may balance out over the course of 16 weeks, but any given week might look a touch out of balance.

Smaller still, you may have a brief life event that requires much time and attention. Perhaps a major job interview, or you are planning a wedding.  You will devote so much time and energy to your project that you may look briefly out of balance.

Your overall goal is to find balance over space and time.  You get to measure: is your goal daily or weekly balance? Is there a special project on your horizon? Do you have a long developmental task ahead of you, like raising a child? Can you sort out how to promote balance in general, and increase the chances of living the life you want? Can you articulate your life goals in the service of balance? Good luck!  Let me know how the balance project turns out!