4 inches wide, 16 feet long, and 4 foot high. Those are the dimensions of a gymnastic
balance beam. An apparatus that decides the
all round winner in women’s gymnastics.
At some point in the all around rotation, the competitors must complete
a 90 second routine that consists of tumbling passes, leaps, turns, mounting
and dismounting. A fall from the beam
could mean the difference of a gold medal, and not placing at all.
The key to winning a gold medal is balance.
Balance is a key to more than gymnastics. Balance is the key to success in your own
life. All work and no play makes for a very
stressful life. All play and no work
makes for a stressful life. There has to
be a balance.
My current employment demands a lot of my time. I’ve been all work and no play for several
weeks running. A couple of weeks ago my
daughter gave me a call on my cell phone.
“Dad, can we BBQ when you get home from work?”
That sounded great, “Sure, as long as we are not cooking
hamburgers.”
I hear her talking to my wife, then she comes back on the
phone, “Can we have a fire and do Smors?”
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” I reply.
I was able to wrap up what I was doing and headed home. It was interesting because the rest of the
day went a lot smoother, I was looking forward to BBQing something (other than
hamburgers) and making Smors. So when I
got home we set up a picnic in the back yard, got a fire in the fire pit, and
the grill going, my wife made a potato salad, and I got the meat on the
grill. Lawn chairs, card table, food,
the impromptu cookout was just what I needed.
It got me to thinking about
balance in life. I work hard, and I am hopeful that the hard work will pay off down the road and I’ll have a bit more
free time later, and I can get that balance I am looking for in my own life.
Yet having those play plans set in motion did so much for my
own attitude at work. That work life
balance. We are all on a balance beam,
only 4” wide. If we can balance our
professional lives, with our personal lives we can find some of that all elusive happiness
everyone keeps seeking.
What are some of the things you do to find your balance?
2 comments:
It's especially hard, I think, for writer's to have that balance because for most writers, writing is their second job and they have kids. There's hardly enough time for writing, let alone, anything else.
Good question. And it's something I'll have to pay particular attention to as I near the end of my pregnancy--once baby comes, the household dynamic we have going on at the moment is going to drastically change. And then there's the matter of writing. Now that I have an agent, there's even more the pressure of creating...writing more books. I will have to remember to keep my life on an even keel. It won't be easy, for sure. But I'm determined to give it my best shot. :)
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