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Balance Schmalance

Lauren Grace Living

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Balance Schmalance

Balance is overrated.

That is bold statement for an Acupuncturist to make, considering Chinese Medicine is all about balancing out the body. Now I do think it’s possible to achieve and maintain balance in the body. However, maintaining a sense of balance in the structure of our life is practically impossible.balance

There are tons of time management systems out there that all aim to do just that. Take all the different aspects of your life such as work, relationships, family, friends, health, hobbies, etc.. and find a perfectly balanced way to schedule them all out equally. I get where the idea of balance is appealing. Most of us function at a high stress level frantically trying to fit in family time with a hectic work schedule. I’m sure we would all love to have a productive work day where we still had time to work out, spend time with our loved ones, cook a healthy meal, carve out a few moments for ourselves, and have a great chat on the phone with a friend. Is it possible to have a day like that? Sure. But every day? Not likely.

For a long time I strived to achieve that type of balance, but it seemed that one area of my life would always overshadow the rest. Sometimes I would sit down and spend a few hours just trying to create a balanced schedule for myself in an attempt to figure out how I was going to fit everything in. I tried coming up with strict routines to follow, but something would always come up to throw me off. It seemed that in the process of trying to achieve a balanced life, I just became more stressed out.  That is when I decided to give up on balance and just live. Letting go of my mission to try to do and be it all made life significantly easier.

When I was in school, studying and going to class took up most of my time. Last year when I was starting my business marketing, events, and networking was my main focus. This year my personal life has taken center stage. Is my life balanced right now? Far from it! If you’ve been reading my blogs from the past few weeks you’ll know that I’ve been having a lot of fun lately. In fact having fun has become my main priority. And yes I’ll admit that building my business has taken a bit of a back seat to my social life. Part of me feels guilty even writing that last statement. After having work be my main priority for so many years it feels strange focusing on another area of my life. But to be honest I’m having too much fun to stop, and I don’t care to.

Does this mean that I am neglecting other areas of my life? No, I’m just going about things in a different way. Right now I would rather spend the whole weekend having fun and enjoying my free time and then hustle my butt off on Monday to catch up with work. If I were to try and balance out my life right now I would miss out on making some great memories in my personal relationships. Yes, there are a few areas of business that I’ve put on the back burner while I’ve been out having fun. But they won’t stay in the shadows forever. I know when it’s time to buckle down and get shit done. In the mean time however, I’m going to keep playing.

There will be times in your life where you have to hustle and pour yourself into your work. And yes you’ll probably neglect your personal life and your sleep during this time. But it’s necessary and important, so you do it. There will also be times where you are swept off your feet and you’ll drop everything to spend more time with your partner. This is also necessary and important so don’t feel guilty about spending the weekend in bed. Let yourself flow through the different cycles in your life, knowing that your focus will always be shifting. Don’t try to do and be it all at once, you’ll drive yourself crazy. Follow where you are called to put your focus. If work is inspiring to you right now, then work. If love is lighting you up right now, then love. If fun is what you are craving, then have fun. But if you are wrapped up in play, don’t waste time feeling guilty that you aren’t more focused on work and vice versa. Because your focus is always shifting, and your priorities always changing.

In a way I can look back at the past few years of my life and see that I actually am balancing things out right now in my life. After years of making work my number one focus it’s about time that I give my personal life some attention. So maybe in the grand scheme of things you do achieve a sense of balance after all.