BALANCE! It's kinda one of those catch words these days. Everyone wants to find the balance between work and family, profession and pleasure, activity and rest, etc., etc,. etc. But what is balance in the first place? And, is it really even actually possible to attain? My short answers are, "Balance is different for everyone," and "No!"
What makes us think that balance is attainable? We all have these glorified visions of getting to this place to where our kids are always behaving beautifully, we're having time to place the most carefully planned out healthy meals on the table every evening, we're able to run and workout and have 20 amazing work conversations and catch up with old friends at the club to round out each of our ever loving days. From my experience in life, we can work toward all of this, or whatever BALANCE may look like to you, but it's unrealistic and actually, in my opinion, pretty unhealthy.
There may be moments in life where things feel balanced, but as soon as you find it, something will shift and you'll be knocked off to one side or the other once again, and very quickly. I can honestly say I spent a good part of my life believing in the myth of BALANCE and grasping for it's attainment over and over every time I fell short. I look back and I gasp at the amount of time and energy I used in all these attempts. I am a Libra, after all, so it was predestined that I would spend my days attempting to master the Tightrope with all my plates spinning and dangling in the air. I remember very clearly one of my art professors, Dr. Bill Paul, at The University of Georgia, saying to me one day, "Kelly, you are a Libra like me. It will do you a lot of good if you learn early on not to work for balance in your life." I remember laughing, like, "Ok, whatever! What is this weird guy even talking about?" (I love Dr. Paul, btw. He was an amazing professor.) Almost thirty years down the road, I see his wisdom now. Brilliant, actually! He was REALLY trying to help me and give me some very thoughtful advice!
BALANCE is not really a thing! It is something we've created in our minds and probably through movies and television. It's very much akin to it's cousin, PERFECTION, and younger siblings, BRILLIANCE and BEAUTY. The only really balance is that in everything there is always an equal and opposite force and it just may not always be what you are hoping for to help even the scales.
As a BIOHACKER, I'm now only interested in ENERGY BALANCE and in those thoughts and actions that are going to keep us healthiest and aging well. From my experience, the effort alone in trying to attain "BALANCE" is not in our best interest. We can exert a huge amount of energy and this can lead to confusion, exhaustion, overspending, et. I think this is where MINDFULNESS can be most helpful. If we learn to take each moment as they come and work to only focus and take on the task at hand, a weird semblance of balance may start to take shape. It's in the letting go that we become closest to any feeling of everything having order or equal distribution throughout our lives. #biohackermom. #biohackingsecrets. #momblog. #momlife. #balance. #balanceisnotreal