Ever felt like you were spinning your wheels trying to keep an equal footing in all aspects of life?
Have you been working very hard at trying to maintain an equilibrium between work life, personal life, volunteer life, family life and health?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but balance is a myth.
But don’t panic – living a well-rounded life is not.
We all have several aspects of life that are important, even critical. These aspects include health, wealth, relationships, work/purpose, volunteering/service, and spirituality. To enjoy life to its fullest we must have representation in many of these aspects.
If too much time is spent in too few aspects you feel it. You are off kilter. Frustration sets in and pressure grows. If you work too much your wealth may be ok, but chances are really good that your health is suffering from stress and lack of exercise. If you are investing a lot of time in a relationship (and this could even be with food – not just a person) your work, health, and wealth may suffer.
So how does it all fit in?
If you try to maintain equal balance in all areas – everything will suffer. So
is striving for a well-rounded life a waste of time? Or scarier yet, is it impossible?
Let’s shift the perspective. Instead of trying to gain or maintain perfectly even sections of your aspects of life, think of life as being built in complementary sections.
A beautiful image, and fantastic concept, I learned from James Ray is to think of the aspects of life as instruments. And these instruments play a symphony – a symphony of your life. At times there are more strings that can be heard, at other times it is percussion and at yet other times the woodwinds are carrying the tune.
Now the goal is not to have equal balance in all areas. This would mean that all the instruments play at the time at the same level. Instead the goal is to create harmony in life by making sure all aspects are represented and support the others, even though they may not be in the foreground.
If one aspect of your life is missing or too prevalent then the harmony suffers. Now there is discord. And you will feel it. Things become stressful, or difficult. It’s time to take a look at the aspects of your life and see where you need work to get back into harmony.
So stop spinning your wheels on an unachievable ‘balance’ in life, and concentrate on making beautiful music.
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After many years of thinking I was looking for balance, I realized that we live life on a sliding scale. Sometimes some aspect might be 60-40 and then it becomes 30-70. If we maintain flexibility as different aspects rise and fall in importance, the flow should feel pretty good! It sure does for me. 😉
I love that Sharon – living life on a sliding scale. That’s a perfect description!
Very interesting article had to get my mind around it a bit because we’ve all been told countless times “it’s all about balance” lol
So true! We have been fed the myth for so long!
I love reading your article! I really feel sometimes I’m spinning my wheels and it’s really difficult to find harmony, but I love the way you change from balance to a symphony. If it doesn’t feel right we focus more on what needs to change or be more to put in at the moment.
Exactly Gilly. It’s about harmonizing, not balancing. 🙂
I love beautiful music… that is music that is in harmony! Not so much distorted music. The same is true of my life. I love harmony in my life. Balance is a word like moderation. It is often overused and even misunderstood. I work in nutrition.. everything in moderation or balance is not necessarily the only consideration in a healthy lifestyle. To create a beautiful symphony it is absolutely true that some parts are to be heard more at times and other parts are heard more at other times to create a beautiful piece of music.
I agree that moderation and balance are often overused and misunderstood. It can become too easy to say them and be complacent. Great point!
Awesome tips A. Lynne! Great post!! Thanks for sharing:)
Thanks Joan! 🙂
You were right on the money when you said that if one are is where you spend the most time with, your other areas will lack in focus. It can be applied to any area, not just relationships, finance or health. It’s good to have a good perspective on things. Thanks for the great post!
You are most welcome Nate! I know I’ve been guilty of hyper focus in one area to the detriment of others. So now it’s about maintaining harmony!
I love the analogy to music. I can hear an orchestra play and no, not all of the instruments play at the time time or at the same volume or level. Life is like that. Thanks for the reminder.
You are welcome! When I heard the analogy it really spoke to me. Glad it helps!
I never thought ‘balance’ meant equal. Perhaps the word is misunderstood. Having a rounded lfe is a wonderful objective. We strive to provide it for our children and naturally for ourselfves. The person who ignores family because work dominates time is not living a well rounded life. So many examples. Good reminder to look at all dimension available to us as we live our life.
Thanks Roz. The discord has become my reminder sometimes. The goal is seeing the well rounded shape to life!
Wow great post! I never thought about it this way, but you are absolutely right. It really isn’t possible to be balanced in all areas all at once. I guess we all do the best that we can.
Thank you! Yep – doing the best we can is all we can do. So we strive for harmony and make adjustments as we go! 🙂
I totally agree with you! You’ve said it all: “Instead the goal is to create harmony in life by making sure all aspects are represented and support the others, even though they may not be in the foreground.” This makes more sense than having everything balance…which I’ve tried….didn’t work though…I wonder why. 😉 Thanks for sharing this eye-opening post!
You are welcome! The pressure of balance is too much – and unattainable. 🙂
Thank you, for sharing! These are nice tips to keep track of your life and look at it a different way. Balance mean not having balance, just needing harmony among the aspects. I like that!
I am glad Meryl. I think harmony is a beautiful image.
I love your analogy of the symphony…everything in harmony. This makes so much sense and really does dispel the balancing myth.
Thanks Susan. When I first heard this perspective it really changed how I looked at trying to “fit” everything in. It was very helpful.
Great post. The biggest thing that shouted out at me was “balance is a myth”! Great tips and perspective with this article. Thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome Tandy! Same goal (living a full life), just a different angle – an angle that will help folks I hope. 🙂 Thank you for stopping by.