Today, we are going to try something a little different as we kick off this month's theme on balance.
Last month, when we revealed our theme on acceptance, all of our regular contributors weighed in on the topic. This month, to balance things out ;), we'd love to hear from you! I'm testing out a facebook plug-in that will let you post here from your facebook profile, and allow us all the opportunity to have a conversation on the ever evolving topic of balance. So, come be a guinea pig (or guinea doe), and give it a try. If you don't have facebook, just comment using the regular method.
Let's get started with my thoughts on balance...
A few months ago, I would have thought that balance was possible. Then I started this blog, and my life was WAY out of balance. And I felt bad about that. Thankfully, I have come up with some ways to rebalance, but in doing so, I have started to wonder if balance is even a thing. Can one's life be perfectly divided and balanced into nice little buckets? And isn't there a balance within each of those buckets (for example in self there could be body, mind and spirit, and within mind there could be art and science and on and on...)? And what about the fact that during different parts of our life we have different responsibilities and goals? For example, I am a mother of two small boys, does that even allow for balance? Is it our role as mothers to give everything to our children? Can that make them balanced? I could go on...
Where I am now, I'm thinking that maybe balance can be achieved over a lifetime of acts in different arenas--if balance is your goal. But, maybe balance can't be measured by acts, but by a feeling of contentment. So, maybe moments of balance do exist in the here and now. Maybe these moments should be strived for, but maybe we should realize that these moments of balance are like beautiful vistas, which are enjoyed after a sweaty journey over rocky terrain. As I wonder if I should strive for balance, I think about burnout--a result of imbalance, which maybe occurs because we are not feeding all parts of ourself. We can't be sustained only physically, or mentally or socially or spiritually or whathaveyoually. Anyway, as you can tell, my jury is still out on balance... Maybe you can sway me one way or another.
So here are my questions to you...
- Does balance even exist?
- Should we strive for balance?
- How do we balance it all?
- Why do we want to balance it all?
- What do you do to rebalance?
- Do you have a favorite quote on balance?
A few years ago while my husband and I were in graduate school and living on a tight student budget, we sat down to carefully look at our monthly expenses because we felt like things were quickly spiraling out of control. We were living in Washington D.C., and although it is a notoriously expensive city, we knew we could make changes to make things easier. As we analyzed where all of our money was going, we realized that a big chunk of it was going towards groceries every month. We made an ambitious goal to only spend $250 a month on groceries. It took a little trial and error and practice, but I'm proud to say that we found a way to make it happen every single month. And guess what? We didn't starve. We didn't feel like we were going without. Yes, we had to be careful about what we bought, but once we got used to it, it really wasn't that hard.
