Balanced Imbalance

I always hear about the importance of a balanced lifestyle. I hear about it enough times that it tends to go in one ear and out the other.

What is a balanced lifestyle? It suggests that one's time is to be spread evenly between the various "must do's" and "might do's" that vie for one's attention. However, this is seldom simple or easy.

Determining how much time should be allocated to one's various interests is often a complex exercise. For example, deciding how to split time between work, family, friends and personal growth cannot be solved by allocating a fourth of all the hours in a day to each aspect. Depending on your priorities, some will inevitably command more time, and rightly so.

Even after having decided on this allocation of time, it is often difficult to stick to. Work has a tendency to overwhelm you if ignored. Family often makes irresistible demands on time that cannot be shackled to quotas. Friends are much the same way, and tend to slip away if not given the proper attention. Finally, if all your time is dedicated outwards, you may find that you've lost a sense of self... torn this way and that by various competing priorities.

Despite the complexities and difficulties of planning and implementing the allocation of your time, it is a task that must be undertaken with gusto and relish. Otherwise, your life's story may resemble a random stumbling about rather than a series of stages towards ever more profound and meaningful physical, mental, relational and spiritual transformations.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled blog.