Finding balance in our busy schedules can be tough. Work. Family. Fitness. Diet. And, when you look at social media (even mine), it can seem like everyone else has it all figured out, and is happily living a seamless life.
If you know me well, you know that I am a big advocate of moving well and often. This means taking rest days and doing a mix of cross training. To the outsider, it might look like I exercise constantly and focus mainly on pilates, (in fact, I hear this from some clients and colleagues) but it just isn’t so.
Over the past few years, I have struggled to get into a good, consistent routine with my fitness and eating habits. My whole job is centered around fitness, and even I make excuses as to why I can skip a workout now and again. (Want to know a little secret? My social media posts are made up of workouts that may have occurred weeks before, not necessarily that same day.)
Between teaching, blog writing, scheduling, emails, social media posts, meetings, and now Pilates Fest (which I am SO excited about), I am working nearly all day, every day in one form or another. That means I haven’t been focussing on other areas of my life, including my fitness.
An imbalance is okay for a little while. The laundry will get done when it gets done; I’ll get back to meal planning soon. But I started to realize that the urgent things were taking the place of the important things, and I needed to start making changes. Things I used to take pride in just weren’t getting done anymore.
My BIG Wake Up Call
Last week, our family was affected by a tragic and traumatic event in our neighbourhood. Suddenly, I had to cancel several classes, client sessions, meetings, and my own personal workouts. Suddenly, I had to weigh out what was most important to get done in my life on each day, because I needed to take care of my family.
Even though I cancelled a lot of things, I surprised myself by what I DID accomplish during this time. I had time to work on my garden, clean bathrooms (yay?), and to spend more time making dinners, which I had been leaving to the last minute lately.
As tough as this time has been for us, this incident was a huge wake up call to me to really get back to finding balance once again.
Finding Balance for What Matters Most
Finding balance in life is very much like finding balance on a teeter-totter; one side is up, one side is down, and in between there is a very brief moment where both sides are equal. Not everything can get your equal attention all of the time. There is a give and take, a flow, to it all.
Unfortunately, I had allowed work to take over too much of my life. Other areas were suffering. SO. I have hired help with my business. I’m setting more boundaries. I am making it a priority to set aside time for me and my family. Work matters. But so do these other things.
The Big Point
I know that I am not alone with this. I allowed one area of my life to dictate the others. But I know that when I make time for movement, I feel better, work more efficiently, have more energy, and even sleep better. I also have a better handle on my eating, and prepare more healthy meals and snacks.
Finding balance is hard – but you can do it if I can! Let’s make a plan together, and find a way to get movement back into your life.