The Balancing Act
This is not the first time that I've spoken about balance. It is so important to your health. Balance is not simply just performing a juggling act with your life. It is making room for everything; for health reasons it is making room for self-care.
The image truly grabbed my attention. I had been thinking about and referencing a seesaw based on circumstances in my own life. This image says it all. The mouse looks content but is it really? I would say, "no". The mouse is holding up the elephant. That's a lot of weight to carry. There's no balance in the image. The mouse is possibly struggling through work challenges, a relationship, home life or life overall. The elephant appears afraid. It can be afraid of being unstable with all of its responsibilities, uncertainty or feeling overwhelmed with everything. Either way, neither is balanced.
Everything that we are involved in and each part of our life requires attention. Our jobs demand attention, our love relationships demand attention, our children demand attention, our extracurricular activities demand attention, our organizations demand attention, our friends demand attention, our churches demand attention... Where's the time for ME? With all of the demands, we often forget about ourselves. How do we fit "me" in the equation? It's not easy. I'm sure many of us could use another five hours per day and even that may not be enough. How do we prioritize when everything and everyone wants to be first on the list and they all are actually very important?
Honestly, I'm not 100% certain. I don't think there's a prescription but I do know self-care must be a priority or you won't be able to balance the rest of the demands successfully. Instead you will be on one end of the seesaw.
The seesaw balances when both the elephant and mouse are ready to stop playing the juggling act and are both ready to step off. Are you ready to get off of the seesaw?
What's suffering in your life because you are not balanced? Are your children feeling neglected? Is your relationship failing? Are you making mistakes at work? Think about it? Can all of this be going wrong because you have not taken care of yourself first? While neglect on any level is not positive, self- neglect is the worse of all. Eventually, you will become physically and/or mentally ill.
We have got to do better. Get off the seesaw. It's not healthy. If you're feeling weighted down, you are holding up too much and you're at the bottom of the seesaw. If you're feeling overwhelmed, afraid and in limbo, you're too consumed with too many things. You are at the top of the seesaw.
When are you going to start doing better for you? Grab some "me" time no matter what. Whether it be five minutes in pockets of the day or an hour at the end of the day. Just do it.! Your health depends on it. The juggling game stops now. Self-care is essential to your overall functioning.
GET OFF THE SEESAW! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF IMMEDIATELY!