The Every-Day Balancing Act

This month’s issue is exceptionally important for me because I get to write about “balance” in your life. What I do for a living is ALL about balance (in more than one sense of the word) and I am incredibly passionate about making people aware of how critical this issue is in having good mental health and wellness. Finding balance in everything we do can be tricky. I’m speaking mostly to my female readers, but it will apply to some of you men as well. We as women, though, are by nature multitaskers. I would say for me, it’s something I take pride in. I can do 100 different things at one time and still answer a question from Michael on the ONE thing he has been working on for days! Here’s where the problem arises. There is a difference in being a “multitasker” and being a GOOD “multitasker.” I am not always a good multitasker. I think I am until the day when all the plates I have been spinning come crashing to the floor and my seemingly well-puttogether life is now in shambles. There HAS to be a balance, and not so much a balancing ACT, but a balance that keeps you from having to run around like a circus performer.

In the middle of this act of trying to figure out our balance of being wives and mothers, and friends, and maids, and chefs, and giving of our time to those in need (all of which are great things too) we end up putting ourselves and our own well-being on the back burner because with all the plates flying in the air, there is just not room for one more. The problem is that the one who we are not attending to is the most crucial one of all—oneself. Of course, from a trainer’s perspective, I am talking in part about taking care of our bodies, by taking time to eat healthy rather than grabbing a burger with our kids between soccer and PTA meetings! Taking time to arrange 30 minutes a day to take care of our bodies by walking, biking, running, hiking, whatever it is that helps you clear your head and think. The truth of the matter is that the more we avoid these important parts of the balance in our lives, the quicker the other plates will start to fall on top of us.

God made our bodies a specific way. He cares about them so why shouldn’t we? We are not able to take on the world until we take care of ourselves. Let me give you an example: I am the worst at biting off more than I can chew. I am a wife, a full-time mother, the caretaker of my home, a trainer, a group fitness instructor, a friend, an active member of my church and most recently, a volunteer in helping those less fortunate. When I do not stop in the middle of all of this to take care of myself, my body slows down, then my brain slows down, then I am moody. Consequently the job of tending to my family is not done as effectively because I am short tempered with them; they have now become a burden rather than a blessing! Our bodies were made to put healthy in and get healthy out. If you put bad gas in your car, what happens? (I use this example because it literally just happened to me!) It stops running. If we don’t fuel ourselves with the proper diet and exercise, the other things in our lives will cease to run properly. It’s not a selfish thing to take care of yourself and give yourself some “ME” time...it is a selfish thing not to!