Concerning Balance

Over a month ago I wrote about progress and that it was one of the two most important aspects of life. Finally, after many years of wanting to write about it, I have taken the opportunity to write about the other aspect, balance.

Balance can be a tricky thing. Each day is a balancing act, as we juggle our leisure activities with our responsibilities. A skew in one direction results in laziness, while a skew in the other direction can lead to burnout. Even within one’s responsibilities there is always a balancing act. To which responsibilities should one devote more time?

Parents probably have the most difficult balancing acts of all. Forget about leisure pursuits. They must somehow find enough hours in the day to take care of their work responsibilities, home responsibilities, spousal responsibilities, and even the balancing act of meting attention among the children.

I don’t know if others feel this way as well, but often I find myself in a balancing act in trying to be four people: 1) Who I am, 2) The summative total of what others want me to be, 3) Who I want to be, and 4) Who I should be. There is a daily battle in decision-making. Some days one of those people wins out. Other days it’s another. Nonetheless it is a balancing act.

Even this blog is a balancing act. With my obligations to this blog I have to balance between being boring (the post about my car accident) or interesting to the point that I shirked my responsibilities (the last post). It’s not always easy to talk about San Diego auto repair or to remind you to check engine light within the confines of what I want to speak about. But if a balancing act is required between the content of my posts and mentioning Ford F-150 and the auto shop, it is what it must be.

Balance is extremely important, but I feel that sometimes we feel overmatched trying to achieve perfect balance. Sometimes a 50/50 split is not only unfeasible but unnecessary. As long as we have all necessary components without spreading ourselves too thin, we have all that we need. Life is constantly changing. Sometimes we need to devote more time or energy to a specific component. Devote that necessary time and energy, but do not forget that component of your life is but one of many. Keep fighting the good fight. Keep juggling all that you juggle. One day you’ll be able to look back and be impressed at all you can do. Balance along with progress is a necessity of life.