Life: A Challenge of Balance

 

How can we live a better-balanced life? Do you sometimes feel trapped on the treadmill of life—so busy, stressed, and buried in responsibilities that you long to escape from the active side of the life-balance scale? At other times—on the passive side of the scale—does life seem mundane and monotonous, devoid of meaningful activity or accomplishments? How can we avoid these extremes?

 

Life continually challenges us to achieve and maintain balance. Each new day may bring a myriad of conflicting thoughts, emotions, ideas, actions, and distractions. If such conflicts are left unchecked, our human nature succumbs to them.

 

The key to accomplishing our goals and achieving sustainable satisfaction is doing meaningful work balanced with a healthy lifestyle that includes fun, leisure, and recreation. A well-balanced lifestyle requires successfully meeting the following challenges:

 

• Working vigorously to attain our goals with a sense of pride, purpose, and accomplishment—without overworking
• Spending quality time with and truly being available for ourselves, our friends, and our loved ones—without becoming overburdened
• Taking time to treat ourselves well, to meaningfully experience some portion of each day as relaxing and enjoyable—without neglecting our responsibilities and commitments
• Making a contribution to our communities and giving to others—without causing personal detriment

 

Some of the most enduring principles regarding the challenges of leading a well-balanced life are succinctly expressed in what is known as the Serenity Prayer:

 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

 

It includes three simple yet challenging components: the serenity to accept, the courage to change, and the wisdom to know.

 

• Serenity to Accept: Peacefully accepting requires serenity. Serenity lies on the passive side of the life-balance scale. Suppose we have put forth a massive effort to resolve a particular problem but the solution eludes us and the problem remains unsolved. If we know we have done our best, we can be at peace with ourselves.
• Courage to Change: To change may take decisive action and even great courage. Change lies on the active side of the life-balance scale. It follows the realization that there is more we can do to effectively resolve a problem or circumstance.
• Wisdom to Know: The third component of the Serenity Prayer involves knowledge and wisdom. Having the wisdom to recognize and strike a balance between the active and the passive sides is the key to sustainable satisfaction.

 

Here’s a scenario that illustrates life’s balancing act. Suppose you are single and your heartfelt desire is to be in a committed relationship where true love is given and received freely.

 

If your scale is tipped too far toward the passive side, you might think that you needn’t take significant action to attain your goal. You simply accept your life as it is, believing that you have no power to change it and that when the time is right, the love of your life will miraculously appear before you.

 

On the other hand, if your scale is weighted too heavily on the active side, your search for love could become an obsession. You might go to bars and nightclubs, use dating apps, attend singles mixers, join special interest groups, and more. However, your overactivity might give others the impression that you’re desperate, which could scare off potential partners.

 

In both cases, the true desire of your heart remains unfulfilled because you are out of balance.

 

Our journey through life is always a blend of pleasant and not-so-pleasant ever-changing events. From passive to active, from accepting to changing, the fundamental challenge is having the wisdom to recognize when our scale has tipped too far to one side.

 

Life is a continual challenge of balance. If we feel overworked and overburdened—running as fast as we can and still unable to keep up—or if we realize we’re neglecting our responsibilities and commitments because we’re in the grip of passivity, it’s time to stop, acknowledge our situation, and take steps to adjust our scale to achieve authentic balance. 

Copyright © Arthur MacArthur