Looking back at this year’s CrossFit Games, I was very impressed at the variety of workouts the competitors had to perform; winning required doing well in all aspects of fitness – cardiovascular, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. That got me thinking about how that notion translates to real life.
Because we have so many demands on our time, attention, and energy, it seems we are all in a constant struggle to find and keep balance in our lives. We work. We go to school. We exercise. We socialize with friends. We spend time with our families. We recreate. We have friends or relatives who spend countless hours working only to see their health and relationships suffer. We had friends at school who spent more time socializing than they did studying. We wonder what elite athletes and CEOs do for fun. And the interesting thing here is there is no single, static balance point; there will be multiple equilibria depending on who or what is demanding the most time, attention, and energy at various points in our lives.
Personally, I’ve only been able to maintain a sense of equilibrium temporarily – a week or two, at best. It seems something always happens to tip me off balance – an illness or injury, a demanding project at work, an upcoming competition, a family emergency, a night out with friends (and the resulting hangover), or simple boredom. Sometimes it is a little nudge and easy to recover, and sometimes it is a shove that requires me to find a new balance point. But that’s what keeps things interesting.
What do you do to find or regain balance in your life?
August 12, 2009 WOD
3 rounds for max reps:
30 secs wall ball, 30 secs rest
30 secs sumo deadlift high-pull, 30 secs rest
30 secs box jump, 30 secs rest
30 secs push press, 30 secs rest
30 secs row (for cals), 30 secs rest
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Whether I intend to or not, I usually spend at least an hour or two each weekend sitting around and doing something unplanned and usually unproductive. For whatever reason, when I spend this little bit of time ignoring all the demands on my time, I kind of “reset” and find a better equilibrium for the week.
eeehhemmm…did someone say “paper toss”…John??
I said “unproductive”… keeping your husband in his place is a perfectly good use of time.
I find re-evaluating priorities from time to time helps, especially when something (ahem, work) starts to demand a lot of time or energy. It helps to take a step back and ask myself if I really want to go down that path.
“I could try to be an elite athlete, but do I really want to give up my social life and giant burritos?”
Balance schmalance… thats what I always say.
becasue I work from home, wearing many different hats, it seems that by the end of the day, when it is time to work, I am usually exhausted and the last thing I want to do is work- but then I get overwhelmed by the amount of work I have. What works best for me is “allow” myself a night off here and there- last night I was in bed with at book ( Primal Blueprint- of course) by 8:30pm- and it was lovely! Tonight=work….but because I took a little break I’m up for it
)