Oh, the elusive "Balance." If you could just find it and somehow maintain it. It seems to be a phantom or a dream or a ghost that you maybe once knew. It’s that torch you are trying to grasp as you run this race, yet you can never seem to catch up to it. The runners holding that torch are too fast and too perfect.
Finding Balance is one of our primary quests. A worthy quest and an honorable quest. It’s the quest to get things right and find everything all at once. Peace, power, joy, serenity, spirituality, and strength. This particular quest, for a lot of us anyway, always seems to "end" in failure. We can never quite maintain any level of satisfaction or peace. The pendulum swings back and forth and back and forth and seems to knock over the most unpredictable things. We have to start over again.
Balance is a Monet. When you look at balance in someone else’s life, you need to understand that what you are seeing is not fine details. You are seeing a big picture of beauty and perfection. If you got closer and you asked a few questions, you might see the truth. Her balance is a hodgepodge of details and spots and it’s not beautiful up close at all. At least not in the way you’re thinking. Balance isn’t about having everything all together at once. If that’s the balance you seek, you truly are chasing a phantom. There are too many things outside our control-too many contingencies in our lives-to achieve the perfection we seek. However, if we were to redefine Balance though the lense of reality, it’s presence on our lives has a chance of becoming a true companion.
As perfectionists and people who have tendencies toward compulsive goal setting, there comes a time when you have to realize that if you continue to live that way you will never be satisfied. The balance you seek is elusive and the peace you require is impossible to obtain. Why? Becuase it’s not real.
Perfection is not real.
Perfection is not real.
Perfection on this earth is not real.
Perfection exists only outside of this life.
So, what can we have here? What Balance do we get to know?
Balance is not perfection. Balance is not meeting all goals each week and still managing to not lose our minds. On the other side of that coin, Balance is not an excuse for not setting and meeting goals that will enrich our lives and the lives of the people we love. Balance is not about accepting less.
Balance is a journey that never ends. It begins each day and continues for the rest of our lives. It’s the beauty of setting goals and doing whatever it takes to succeed. It’s every single dot and stroke of paint on the canvas that ultimately creates the painting of our existence. It’s the relentless pursuit of happiness and the relentless acceptance of reality. It is accepting our own personal beauty and purpose while at the same time striving to get more out life life... striving to make our lives matter for something. Balance is realizing that your BEST probably looks different on any given day. Sometimes the well of energy seems full and sometimes it seems empty. Don’t compare your best during full times to the empty times. Either you are giving life your everything or you aren’t. Comparisons are the death of us.
I always tell my girls when they have to run the mile: run until you think you might puke. Even if you lose, you’ll know that you didn’t hold back. Sometimes you’ll come in first, sometimes you’ll come in last, but each and every time you give it everything you’ve got. That’s balance.
Don’t hold back. Understand that the mind, body, and spirit are fluid and ever-changing. True balance is accepting that sometimes you’re on top, sometimes you’re not, this can change daily and even hourly, and your job is to show up and give it all you have. That’s your canvas and your dots, fine strokes, broad stokes, and splotches. That’s your beauty.
