Life is all about Balance
Some days it comes easy, other days it is more of a challenge. This is true whether we are talking about holding a yoga pose, or about balancing our schedule, eating habits, activity, and rest time. Or even socializing vs time alone.
Where that point of balance is for each of us can change in any given moment. Sometimes it’s easy to give yourself a hard time if it feels like your day or week is “out of balance”, which usually only makes you feel worse.
I’m sure most of us have had that super busy week where we seem to be rushing from one commitment to another and barely get time to eat. Let alone actually take some time out to just relax and enjoy a moment of quiet time.
It happens – life gets busy. However, are there times when you have plenty of “down time” and everything just feels relaxed and flows easily? So that when you look at it from that larger perspective, things do look more balanced overall?
Hopefully, most people can answer yes to that question.
If not, maybe it’s time to have a think about how you can create more balance in your life?"
Ask yourself the following questions:
Do you have those weeks where you feel like you have no control in your life?
Or feel like all you do is work?
Or do things for others?
Or sometimes the feeling of guilt can come creeping in because you are spending way more time on one area (like work)? And neglecting other areas (like self-care).
Another way to look at whether there is balance in our lives is to look at our energy.
Do you feel that all your energy is focused on areas like work, home life and little energy left for time to pursue other hobbies or passions?
This may show that your life is out of balance.
In life, we have a mix of priorities that pull us in different directions. Work, relationships, exercise routines, hobbies & passions. Some of these things we must do like work, pick the kids up from school & pay the bills. Other activities are ones that we enjoy, like going to yoga or the gym, attending art classes, spending time in nature, etc.
In today's blog, I’ll go into more depth about what is balance, why does it matter and 3 key things that you can do right now to help with balance.
What is Balance?
Balance is finding enough time to do the things we have to do as well as the things we want to do.
For example:
Work vs hobbies
Paying the bills vs spending money doing the things we love.
Doing household chores vs exercising the way we love (Yoga for me)
Why does balance matter?
The nervous system has two main systems, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system. These two systems are designed to keep you safe and react to changes both inside your body and outside. Ever heard of the fight, flight or freeze response? This response is designed to kickstart the processes in your body if you are in danger, to fight, run or freeze in a stressful situation (sympathetic nervous system.) On the other hand, the parasympathetic nervous system is the rest and digest side. This is the part of your nervous system that helps regulate all of the body’s functions such as digestion, heart rate and breathing, etc
Just like balance in so many other areas of your life, there is a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems required so you can be alert enough for danger yet at the same time, rested and calm enough for your body to function optimally. One of the consequences of feeling unbalanced in life is that we are often living more in the fight, flight or freeze mode which isn’t good for inflammation, immunity, mood, or long-term health.
Being balanced helps give us the capability to be able to deal with the ebbs and flows of life.
What does balance look like?
Balance looks different for everyone as their needs and wants are different. However, a common theme is the feeling. Balance feels calmer. Typically, when we are out of balance in our lives, we can feel stressed, overwhelmed or even guilty, that we aren’t spending enough time doing the things we ‘should be doing.’
It also typically means having clarity around your goals and desires so that you can continue to set and maintain healthy boundaries around what balance looks like for you.
Top 3 ways to find balance
1. Do Yoga
(Of course this is my number one tip 😉).
Yoga is so good for the nervous system. It helps bring the body back into rest and digest mode. To read more about the benefits of Yoga, click here to read my previous blog.
2. Setting clear boundaries and learning to say “No”.
Setting clear boundaries and learning to say no is a great way to create more balance in your life. It is when we say yes to too many things, overcommit and keep putting others' needs above our own that creates feelings of overwhelm, frustration and eventually being “out of balance”
3. Prioritizing your health
Your physical and mental health does cross over into other areas of our lives. Clarity, performance, and productivity comes from the balance of good quality sleep, nourishing foods, and regular movement.
The body can be used as a guiding light to the other areas of your life. When your body is out of whack, often so too is your life and environment too.
In summary, balance is individual as it often reflects what you need to do vs what you want to do.
There are many ways to create balance in your life, it is about finding the ‘balance’ that is right for you to avoid the feelings of overwhelm, frustration and guilt and to invite in peace, calm and ultimately balance.
Sam