photo via freedigitalphotos.net
I’ve seen a lot of posts on other blogs lately, or comment threads in social media groups I belong to, discussing “finding balance.”
“How do you find balance as a blogger?”
“How do you balance your work and family life?”
“How balanced is your social media vs. face-to-face interaction with people?”
I’ve sought the answers to these questions, too. I’m a mom. I’m a wife. I’m a writer. I’m a church secretary. I’m a Sunday School teacher. I’m a community volunteer. And on and on… just like everyone else. We all have a thousand various things in our life, constantly vying for our attention. Some of them are very important. Some of them are lower on our priority list. But they all have value to us or we wouldn’t include them in our lives.
But lately I’ve been thinking… is balance all it’s cracked up to be?
Maybe it stared when I was watching the Olympics. World class athletes don’t have balance. They eat, breathe, and sleep their sport.
Then I started thinking about an author who spoke at a seminar I went to a few months ago. He spoke about waking up before sunrise and writing. Then he went to his day job and on his lunch hour he wrote. He came home from work and he wrote. He ate dinner with his family and put his kids in bed and then he wrote some more. Every day. For years.
Where does this idea of “balance” come from?
Don’t some of the best creations of the human race come from some fairly “imbalanced” people?
Isn’t there something to be said for throwing yourself – your entire being – into a passion?
In my own life, two things take precedent: My family and my writing. I spend time deeply immersed in nurturing those two loves. If that means that the floor doesn’t get vacuumed today then I’ll write in a pile of dog hair, but I will write. If it means that I can’t go out with my girl friends then I will sip my glass of wine (or apple juice, as the case may be) over a game of Candyland. Do I lack balance? I don’t know… maybe. Probably. After a recent visit with family during which time my every sentence had something to do with my husband, children or writing it was pretty clear. Is that so bad? I don’t know…
What do you think? Is balance something to be sought or is it just an illusion?
Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?
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If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!
