Tuesday, October 26, 2010

If there’s one thing I believe in more fiercely than most, it’s balance. Each of us wears a colorful selection of various hats, each depicting differing personas—roles we enact in our daily lives. Maintaining balance between those can be a challenge. Not only keeping up with the demands of each, but also managing to retain or even find who we are.

On any given day or hour, for that matter, we are pulled in different directions. One person needs us for this. Bosses dictate that we do our work more efficiently, saving the company money in the process. Our children keep us dancing on our toes as we struggle to keep up with their demands, often dropped upon us at the very last second, spinning us out of control. Our significant others expect us to make time for them. All this we do often with little or no encouragement.

And giving time to ourselves…yeah, right!

But, if we have a hope or a prayer of ever establishing balance in our lives/selves, we need to find a way to prioritize finding time for ourselves, doing the things that feed our souls. Will those directly benefit others? Probably not. And that’s not their purpose. Instead, we strive to address our own needs as a means to define who we are. Shore us up. Create a sense of self-confidence that will radiate from us, letting the world know that we are in control of ourselves. As such, dedicating time to our own preferences will benefit others, for as stronger more self-assured individuals, we will be better able to cope with all that our hectic lives demand of us. In the end, this will generate balance in all that we do.