Have you ever tried standing on a balance board for an extended period of time?
Earlier this year I had to go through physical therapy after I had healed from a deep gash in my lower leg resulting from a freak accident. (A story for another time…) The nerves in my lower leg and foot were damaged, which made the muscles very weak and my ability to balance v-e-r-y challenging.
One of the exercises involved balancing (or attempting to balance) on one of these boards for several minutes at a time. I was expected to keep the board as level as possible without allowing any of the outside edges to touch the floor….and NO grabbing on to anything to help me balance! It took everything in me to stay balanced.
It got me to thinking about how balancing is not just “standing perfectly still” – it actually requires continuous little weight shifts, calling both large and small little muscles into action to prevent “disaster.”
If you’ve done yoga you’ve experienced this same thing. To an observer it may look like you’re holding a position perfectly still, but inside – you feel all the little shifts taking place to keep you balanced.
Now, imagine that while balancing on that wiggly/shifty board you’ve been asked to juggle 10 different sized balls. WHAT? Here are just a few of the balls you’re trying to keep in the air:
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career ball
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marriage ball
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kids ball
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in-laws ball
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physical health ball
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volunteering ball
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….you get the picture
Some of the balls are larger than others (which makes the juggling even harder), but it’s important not to drop any of them or they may go rolling across the floor, out the door, and out of your sphere of life!
The balance-board-while-juggling image is a perfect analogy of how it feels to live life one day to the next. I know, because I’ve been there.
When I decided to start my coaching business, I knew exactly who I wanted to work with – women like me who were busy trying to keep all the competing demands in “balance.”
What I hear more than anything else from you is that certain aspects of your life demand all your attention, leaving some other important things suffering from lack of attention. You may have dropped some of the balls that you’d really like to keep in hand, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s possible!
I’ve created an exercise that I know would be helpful. I use this “How’s Your Balance” worksheet with all my coaching clients and they have all said that it’s helped them to get a good “1000 foot view” of their life….the first step to course- correcting and feeling like you are balancing out the various parts of your life.
The worksheet will help you assess how satisfied you are with each of these areas of life and start thinking about how to get the most “bang for your buck” in making choices and investing your time and energy.
Click here to get it for FREE. You’ll be taken to a page where you can request it, download it, print it and get to work!
P.S. I hope you’ll stay tuned because I’m working on a couple of courses and group coaching opportunities that will help you gain clarity on your priorities, learn some strategies for keeping your “first things first,” and taking practical steps to have the kind of life you’d like to have. If you’d like to be among the first to know when these are available, request the worksheet and you’ll be added to my VIP list!
You deserve it!
Story originally published at www.edisowers.com