Balance This

   I hear a lot of people give lip service to the concept of bringing balance into their lives. The reason I say lip service is because when you really start to question what that is and what that would look like and how exactly they propose that to happen, I get tremendous resistance. This has brought me to the conclusion that seeking balance is not in most people’s true desires or intentions. Sounds good, but not interested.

 

   I have one woman that really is NOT interested in giving up her 12-14 hour days of work. She keeps her Blackberry on 24 hours, keeps it on her person at all times, and yet she talks about the need for more balance, but when challenged gently about it she has so many reasons why it is not possible. Back to our budget issue, she feels it would cost her, her job, or the company’s growth if she wasn’t absolutely the human machine hooked up and plugged in at all times.

 

    I think what it boils down to is a willingness to juggle. We all have different aspects of our lives: worker, spouse or partner, parent, son or daughter, chief, cook, bottle washer. If each of these roles is a ball, we have to be willing to juggle. Each ball gets its air time and its hand time, and quite frankly if we spend too much time on one, ALL OF THE OTHERS WILL FALL. No kidding. So by being willing to juggle, and truly hold the ball currently in our hand, that so-called balance will be a natural by-product of our life. This ties into my beloved concept of rhythm. I believe we all have a rhythm: to our lives, the Universe and if you are juggling, there is a rhythm to that that enables you to move each ball through your hand and pass it on in time to hold the next. Skilled jugglers look as if it’s happening in slow motion. And so as that old verse states, give each part of your life its time.” To everything there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and
a time to die;
a time to plant, and
a time to pluck up
that which is planted;

A time to kill, and
a time to heal;
a time to break down, and
a time to build up;

A time to weep, and
a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and
a time to dance;”… (from Ecclesiastes3, and it continues.)

  When I went from being a single person to married one and then on to having a family, my husband was the one to help me learn how to NOT take business calls “after hours”, how to take time for my family, and little by little I am learning how to take time for me.

  I have a friend, newly divorced, who just this past weekend said I don’t think I can juggle more than two balls right now. I think that’s brilliant, he can see what is current capacity is! We will get better at juggling as we juggle. But I do think it boils down to… being willing to juggle.