We all know someone who actively seeks more balance in their life. Whether it be a work-life-balance or just a balanced diet. No matter the type of balance one seeks to find, the motive behind it remains similar; we want outcomes that leave us with the feelings of well-being and a sense of peace. It’s important to us because living out of equilibrium can make us feel edgy, overwhelmed, and stressed.
The Hard Truth
According to a survey done by Gallup, the United States is among the top 10 most stressed out countries in the world. Is it any surprise when we juggle so much in our lives? The definition of balance is an equal distribution of weight or an amount. Trying to equally distribute our time between work, home life, friends, family, entertainment, self-care, and so-on is ludicrous!
The cold facts are that finding a balance between it all is a myth for many of us. It’s something that is a fairy tale unless we have complete time freedom or are retired. So the real question is… if living a balanced life is unattainable for most of us, then what actually is attainable?
The Light at The End of the Tunnel
The great news is we can seek and obtain harmony in our lives, no matter at what stage we find ourselves. A pleasing arrangement of parts defines harmony. When we focus on arranging the moving parts of our lives into a sequence that feels good to us, that is harmony.
The disconcerting aspect of harmony is that it forces us to question if the time we spend doing something is in alignment. For example, if we hate our jobs and spend the majority of our time there, the time we do have off, we’ll spend thinking about how much we dread going back. That will eat up the quality time to have for things we love or people we love. It will cause us to not fully be in the moments as they occur. This is why many people who seek a work life balance fail.
Sometimes changes need to be made so we can experience harmony. It’s not about equally spreading our time; it’s about creating a life we are more aligned with. This way no matter what we are doing or how much time we spend doing it, it doesn’t feel draining.
We all are invited to think of the areas of our lives that bring the most disharmony. Then ask ourselves, what can we do to get back on track? Remember, its’ all about harmony over balance.
By Mona Nyree Stephens, contributing author
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