To Do's, Have To's & The Remainder

How is your "BALANCE Sheet" going this year?  Are there more to do's than done's?  How are you juggling all that you are responsible for?  Trust me when I say I know that there are more days than not that you just want to throw your hands up and go 'whatever'....but life moves on and so too do you.  

When I was a gradeschool child I remember my grandmother telling me that if you wipe down the tub after every bath you don't end up having to clean it as often.  At the time I wondered why she was telling me this other than she was wanting me to wipe the tub down after every bath, and as I stood there contemplating using a dirty wash cloth to wipe down the tub (yes, even at an early age hygine & proper cleaning practices really mattered) she demonstrated how the task should work.  Another tidbit was from a great aunt who would finatically clean her house before she would leave it to go anywhere, even if it was just up the street for a visit with a neighbor for a few minutes, because she was taught growing up that you never want to leave your house how you wouldn't want a stranger to find it because you never know what your future holds.  It is words of wisdom like this that have stuck with me over the years.  In part because they were stand out moments in my childhood either because of the circumstance in which they were delivered or because they seemed so odd they left an impression for me to ponder over the years.   But if you really think about these two examples in particular and apply them not only to your life (home, work) but the way you view your fitness and nutrition routines, it really helps to put it all in perspective and balance.  

Said very simply:  Don't get overwhelmed with the big picture of everything you are trying to accomplish....rather, break it down, make a plan, and consistently tackle your plan.  By doing what you can do moment by moment, day by day, amazingly it all gets done without any one thing undoing you.  Sure, you still have "those days" but overall, so much easier than having overwhelming task after overwhelming task on your plate (as it were) that you have to try and tackle as a whole.  Can be so defeating for sure!  What doesn't work is putting it off until the list, stack, task is so large there isn't even an obvious starting place.  This seriously applies to everything, fitness/health/nutrition included!

Overwhelmed?

If you are breathing and responsible for anything other than showering, sleeping, and eating, you get overwhelmed.  Life is complicated and the more obstacles you have the more obstacles you encounter...can be a vicious cycle for sure.  Finding balance is key, but as I have said numerous times balance is fleeting and like happiness something you constantly have to appreciate while you have it and strive for when you don't. 

Like superpowers, being overwhelmed should be used for good and not bad.  Don't let your anxiety and stress cause you to forfeit your goals by giving up on them.  Just because things seem impossible doesn't mean they are .... just means it's time to sit down and examine what is or isn't working and regroup.  My personal experience is that if I am overwhelmed, anxious, and feeling like I should just surrender it's likely because I have let my boundaries be violated either by me or others in my life.  The best thing at that point is for me to sit quietly by myself and honestly assess what my situation is and how to go about fixing it (not quitting it).  There are good reasons to jump ship on something, but make sure you are doing them for the right reasons and not because you are stressed and it's just easier to bail than reflect and move forward.  Two excellent books that have helped me tremendously are "Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life" by Henry Cloud and John Townsend & "Codependent No More" by Melody Beattie

"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."  ~Marian Wright Edelman

"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."  ~John Ruskin

Balance

"Balance doesn't mean that things stop moving....it simply means that you are more able to deal with the fluctuations as they come up."  ~Kathryn Budig

If we reach a balance in our lives, a true balance, enjoy it but also be prepared to make necessary adjustments as life is ever moving and so too does your focus need to be as well.  Balance isn't something you figure out once and bam you are set.  Balance is something that is fleeting if you do not work at it to keep it in check.  All of the constant obstacles in life assure us that balance is fragile and something to strive for and maintain and honor once we reach it.  Don't get discouraged if everything is hard.  Use it rather as an opportunity to step back and get perspective on what is making it hard.  Once you are able to grasp perspective on your existence and obstacles is when you can truly apply your hard earned and fought for life lessons to achieve your balance.

"Whatever we focus on we become--We also become whatever we practice.  We need to focus on balance whenever something comes along to tilt us off balance, we need to be grateful, because it allows the opportunity to practice our focus.  When you're in the middle, you don't go to either extreme.  You allow both sides to exist."  ~Lakota

"We must live as we think, otherwise we shall end up by thinking as we have lived."  ~Paul Bourget