the myth of balance

The myth of balance is dangerous.

The myth of balance tells us that we should be paying attention to all “categories” (work, love, friendship, wealth, health, etc.) of our lives at the same time and, at the very least, maintaining all of them.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned that that’s just not how I work. I have seasons of feelings or thoughts or focuses. Sometimes I want to focus on work, on creative pursuits, while others I want to focus on my social life and going out connecting with people, while others still I prefer to spend time alone in introspection. I go through all of them, and they are each perfectly valid.

What is important is identifying these seasons, allowing ourselves to be in them, and then working with (as opposed to against) them to create more peace in our lives.

Balance doesn’t come from being everything at once; balance comes from being authentic. And sometimes the authentic choice is to let yourself skew all the way in one direction.

This week’s podcast discusses how to figure out where you are and then to honor that place. Our job in life is not to be more perfect, but to be more authentic. Let’s dive in.