Do you need Balance (noun)? Or is it better and easier to be Balancing (verb)?
The re-opening of society is making everyone re-organise (yet again) how they manage their time. Having become used to being mostly online, clients are saying to me that they have had to get used to incorporating commuting time into their days again. Some are adjusting well with hybrid working arrangements and enjoying the benefit of both. Others feel that 'work/life balance' is further away than ever, particularly given that at a moment’s notice that little line on a positive antigen test can throw a family’s plans into disarray for at least a week.
I love the paragraph below from the book Co-Active Coaching because it helps reframe the struggle and offers some inner peace through acceptance that life is constantly ebbing and flowing.
"Balance...should not be confused with reaching some ultimate equilibrium. There is no static point in life; life is inherently dynamic. We are constantly balancing. Balance is not about slowing down, although slowing down may be just the recipe some days....Balance coaching is designed to restore flow, to get clients into action on today's issues in a way that brings them back into alignment and back in control of their own lives." - Co-Active Coaching.
Studies have shown that being psychologically flexible (i.e. a flexible mindset) acts as a protective buffer against external stressors such as life-threatening events like pandemics, social isolation and day to day stress, resulting in lower incidences of depression, substance abuse, stress and emotional exhaustion.
What would it be like to stop struggling to achieve the perceived 'perfect balance’ and enjoy the gentle rocking of the seesaw instead?
Until next time, take care,
Lisa
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