Who gets to define what a balanced life looks like? 

Who's to say if I eat ice cream for dinner and spend a little too much on shoes I'm not still balanced in my own way?  Maybe doing that keeps me mentally stable and THAT is my definition of balance!


A perfectly balance life stays perfectly balanced for what...15 seconds?  When's the last time you cleaned the bathroom and it stayed clean forever?  Achieving balance is the same way.  You get there...you just can't STAY there!

The truth is that no matter how hard we try to keep all our ducks in a row all the time, a duck or two is apt to wander off every now and then.  But is that so wrong?  If I want to focus on career can't I let go of perfection in  other areas for just a little bit?  For me that usually translates to lack of a romantic relationship.

"Hello late night projects!!  Good-bye having time to find a life partner!"

Sound familiar to anyone else?  Although my work life is rolling along just fine, I'm spending way too many nights on the couch with my two good friends Ben & Jerry watching "The Bachelorette" wondering why I don't have those kinds of men in my life.  (Side note...have you tried their new Peanut Brittle ice cream?  Heaven in a pint!)

Well...the answer is that right now is not the time in my life for romance.  I am CHOOSING to be out of balance by taking that slice of pie off my plate for awhile.  I'm PURPOSELY getting my romance doses from television until I'm ready to find my own Prince Charming (and all the stuff that comes with him!).

While dating is a wonderful thing and I really do hope to give a try one day again soon...it just isn't my top priority right now.  HECK...it's not even in my top three!  I'll add it back in someday...just not NOW!

This brings me to the questions I ask myself when I look at my life situation:

• What does laser focus on one area do to the balance of my life?  
• If my life were the wheel of a car on the road how bumpy might the ride be? 
• Could I keep rolling along or would my car come to a complete stop?

The Coaches Training Institute has created a great exercise to help us answer these questions.  The Wheel of Life exercise provides a structure to take a snapshot of your life to see where you might be lacking balance.


Click the link & check it out.  How would your wheel of life ride down the highway of your dreams?  Smooth ride or bumpy?  If you need a little more in one area, what can you stop doing in another area to give yourself the time to do that...and do you even WANT to?!


Just remember that no matter what your wheel looks like...it's only a snapshot.  Yeah, I know I'm boyfriendless right now and spend too much time online (is it really almost 1am right now?  OMG).  But it won't be that way forever.  I'm choosing imbalance now so I can relax and enjoy my boyfriend when I do find him!  Having my career on track will give me the freedom to do that.   And to go overboard & all out of balance to fall in love and spend crazy amounts of time with my new man WITHOUT a single second of guilt that I'm neglecting my career.


But just to be clear...I don't need to stop seeing Ben & Jerry, do I?


Leslie Stein, 15 July 2010