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  Is Your Life in Balance?

"Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some."

Check In

Greetings!

I've been thinking a lot about balance lately - especially as I'm learning to ride a motorcycle! Plus, finding that delicate balance between work life and personal life while running a business from home seems to be an ongoing challenge.

How's your balancing act?

We all wear many hats and have responsibilities and obligations in many areas of our lives. Sometimes it can feel like we're being pulled in many directions at once. Then at other times, it may feel like we're focusing so much time and energy in one direction that other areas get left out or fall apart. Either way, being out of balance can be stressful.

So what can you do about it? First, you have to know where you are. In this issue, we'll look at five life areas and get a status check on each one.

Enjoy the rest of the issue!

- Becky

How's Your Balancing Act?

Let's take a look at each of these five life areas:

• Significant Other / Romance
• Family / Friends
• Career / Work
• Fun / Recreation
• Spirituality / Self

As you read through, rate yourself on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being highest). At the end, you'll put each of your ratings on a wheel and create a visual of how balanced (or not balanced) your life is!

Significant Other / Romance

My parents had a little plaque on a bookshelf in their bedroom that read:

"The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."

Even as a child, I knew there was deep truth to that. Now as an adult, I know from experience that "if mom ain't happy, nobody's happy!" And mom is happier when she's being loved and adored by her significant other. It goes both ways too. Men love being honored and respected.

The point is, while your relationship with your children is important and may periodically take priority, don't forget about the person you fell in love with. Just like all relationships, it has to be nurtured and cared for too!

If you are single and dating, there still needs to be a balance of time and energy spent together and spent apart. If you are not currently in a romantic relationship, use this time to make a list of what you want in a relationship and the qualities you want your ideal significant other to have. Then BE the person who would attract this kind of person.

Where are you on a scale of 1 - 10 in this area?

Family and Friends

This area includes your children (if you have them) and your extended family. Having a supportive network of family and friends is important and can add much joy and fulfillment to our lives.

If your network is smaller than you'd like, or is not supporting you in the way you need, take time to examine this area. What desire or need is not being fulfilled? What are you doing or not doing to nurture the relationship, or to grow more relationships?

How does this area rate on a scale of 1 - 10?

Career / Work

This area can easily consume all your time and energy if you let it, no matter where your work place is located. And balance is even more of a delicate issue if your "work" is being a stay-at-home mom or dad.

If you have workaholic tendencies, I invite you to look beneath your motives for working long hours and see if you are "running" from something. Dig through to discover why.

If you are a stay-at-home parent, enlist help with domestic chores. Delegate age-appropriate chores to your children. It will teach them valuable life lessons and give you more time to breathe!

How's your life in this area?

Fun / Recreation

My sister always fusses at me for not having enough "play time" in my busy schedule. This is one of the easiest areas to over look when you find yourself juggling too many hats. But just like needing sleep to function properly, we need time to relax and just BE to keep ourselves in balance.

What does "fun" mean to you? How can you add more of these into your life?

Rate yourself in this area.

Spirituality / Self

It might seem strange to you that I grouped these two together. But let me explain.

Everyone needs some amount of "quality time" with their self... their soul... God... Spirit.... that something that is greater than all of us. If we fail to nourish the very essence of "us", then pretty soon there's no "us" left. Just like on an airplane, when they explain the safety routines... put your oxygen mask on first, THEN help those around you.

If you are single, your primary relationship IS with yourself. If you are married or dating seriously, there's more of a balancing act between "couple time" and "self time."

Is your oxygen mask in place? Or are you focused on everyone elses? What feeds your spirit? What gives you a sense of calm and peace?

Where are you on a scale of 1 - 10 in this area?

Life Wheel

Write the number you rated yourself from each of the five areas in the Life Wheel below and draw it in. (See example below.) You can right-click on the picture and "save picture as" to save it on your computer for later use or for printing. You can also right-click and "copy" then paste into your word processing program and print, or right-click and print.

Would your wheel roll smoothly or would you be in for a bumpy ride? Where are you out of balance? Which areas need more attention? Which areas are going great? What adjustments can you make to bring your life into more balance?

Example:

Go Deeper, Reach Higher

In recent motorcycle practice sessions, trying to get the hang of starting and stopping, I discovered there's a fine balance of holding on and letting go involved as you begin the take off. (Read the background story: Fear Lessons from a Newborn Motorcycle Mama.)

Learning to keep the bike steady and vertical with your left foot on the ground and your right foot on the foot peg, is the first balance test. Then there's the take off.... left hand pressing in the clutch, right hand GENTLY on the throttle.... slowly letting out the clutch while slowly engaging the throttle....

Imagine riding a see-saw in slow motion. Being on the ground equals stopped, being up in the air means riding with both feet on the foot pegs. On the see-saw, at that moment when your feet leave the ground equals that moment in the take off process where the clutch is half way out and the bike is starting to move forward....

At that moment, you have a choice. You can either let go of the ground and put your left foot on the foot peg while engaging the throttle to move forward. Or you can squeeze the clutch back down to stop the forward momentum and stay where you are.

When you're faced with a choice or an activity that seems scary or new, or that requires you to step out of your comfort zone, what do you tend to do? Do you hold on to the clutch frozen in "ready-set-go" position, trying to get started? Or do you let the clutch out and begin the forward motion? At that critical moment of putting both feet on the foot pegs and going for it, do you give it gas? Or do you squeeze the clutch tighter and stop the momentum?

Notice this week, as you're faced with a new task or project, or as those little fears or hesitations come up...... Are you holding on? Or letting go?