Out Of Balance – Getting Off The Seesaw

As I look around me, observing closely, reflecting over people, I see a person here and a person there who appear awkwardly out-of-balance. They’re like a washing machine on spin cycle rocking all over the laundry floor. It's like they have most of their lives in focus and in balance, but not yet all of it. I'm thinking of a particular person who a few months back would provide great customer service in her job role, yet she'd often not begin her lunch break until 1.30 in the afternoon -- she was at the beck and call and mercy of all it seemed. Lots of happy people except, that is, for herself.

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Then I noted a change in this person. She started to be clearer in her planning and would defer "important" last minute requests from others, tasks, and meetings to protect her lunchtimes. I could regularly expect her to be out of the office at 12.30 to the minute. She was like clockwork. Yet, into the bargain for a better structured day came a ‘rigidness’ that meant there was now too little flexibility -- she would insist on the break; it became part of an important routine. (I would expect this person to be quite heavily in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ‘judging’ preference rather than ‘perceiving’ preference.)

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Now, to the uninitiated these details might seem insignificant -- that ‘spin cycle’ of life wobbling ungainly through our days. I see this in my own life. In seeking balance, I often go farther than centre to attain or restore it. It's like a seesaw with a pendulum that swings the other way all too readily.

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When we seek to restore balance we could do these things:

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~~ Analyse the pitfalls of adjusting too much.

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~~ Identify the threats of change; perhaps we might sacrifice one good thing for another we're missing. Would that be good? Suggests a false economy.

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~~ Talk to important others who might be able to give you instant feedback.

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~~ Set measures so you can monitor adjustments as well as maintain the areas of good balance in your life.

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Balance is hard to achieve and maintain. But it’s not impossible if it’s important enough to us. There are few more important things in life, surely, than being balanced -- prudent and diligent in how we live. We need to fiercely guard our balance and remain insightful as to the things we have to do more, or do better, or do less. Life out of balance is like being on a seesaw -- rarely do we feel at peace with equilibrium.

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Copyright © 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.