How Do You Find Balance?
Finding balance is something we all strive for every day - balancing work, family, travel and social obligations sometimes seems impossible, especially with ever-shifting responsibilities and time constraints. Finding balance with exercise and healthy eating can also be a problem, something that struck me when I read a recent comment by one of our readers. She said, "...I have become this health fanatic that watches and worries about every little bit of nutritional info on food, vitamins, etc. I know its better for me healthwise to pay attention, but I really liked it (and myself) so much better when I just didn't care what I ate!"
I think we've all been there to some degree or another and part of the learning process sometimes involves going to extremes before finding a middle ground. A person who changes his diet may find himself completely avoiding anything considered 'bad' for fear of falling off the wagon. A person who starts exercising may be afraid to take any time off because she might not trust herself to start back after a break.
Finding that middle ground is part of the journey and one way we get there is to learn to banish all or nothing thinking. Finding the gray area and letting go of achieving the perfect body, the perfect diet and the perfect exercise program is something we all have to figure out.
How have you struggled to find balance? What's the secret to walking that fine line between being flexible, but not so flexible that you lack commitment? How do you commit without becoming overly rigid to the point where nothing but perfection is allowed? Leave a comment and tell us about your balancing act.
As the author of the software application that helps people to stay on track with long time goals like health and fitness goals, I can tell you from experience with my clients that you are absolutely right that one of the aspects that leads to extremes is that fear of messing up a habit that is not yet firmly established. This is especially true when there are many conflicting demands on your time.
When you are at the beginning of a new project that involves changing a lifestyle behavior, you can improve your chances for success if instead of becoming more “strict” with yourself, you put mechanisms in place to gently bring your attention back to the goal when you encounter an obstacle.
Then you can relax about the whole process. By planning ahead for those temporary setbacks, you already have a clear path to get yourself back on track again!
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Then realize that as long as it’s not bad news on your or a loved one’s health, the rest of that junk is ALL small stuff! And take care of your self today because you’re gonna need you tomorrow.
I’m with Brad. I’ve been trying to keep fit since 1956 — guess how old I am — and while I love my wife, my beer and my food, doing the workout is what makes the rest of the day do-able. For most of my years of employment, my schedule was in my control and I always made time for a workout before my ‘day’ started. Thirty years ago I went back to being a cop for a year, and for the last six months, I was assigned to day shift — 6:00AM to 2:00PM — I would get up at 2:30AM, do my morning stuff, do my workout, run 3-4 miles, shower and show up for roll-call in uniform at 6:00am. My rule is: Take care of yourself because……….fill in the blanks for yourself.
Writing or typing a detailed schedule is essential for reaching any goal. Usually you can find 45 to an hour to exercise if you plan correctly.
yup.. been there.. at one point me and hub will read the Nutrisional Fact of each things that we wana buy.. its so stressing… now not doing it anymore…do not know why.. maybe coz we have the idea about it already..
Now.. after all our festive season has finish, trying to get back on track really is hard..
Sometimes patience is really really needed to find time and also to encourage your love one to exercise… commitment is the key word…
Page, Love your articles keep them coming. I humbly question one point of view. You are more experience than I am but it seems that any out that I give say 90% of my clients leads to a reason to splurge and they never learn true discipline. They never lose the taste for high sugar/starch foods or chocolate at night. I believe this is because there serotonin levels are too low at night from missing clean carbs all day. It bums me out when I help get a client down to their dream weight just to hear people ask if they are sick with some disease. I guess this is how bad things have become; people assume if your not overweight (which is the new norm) you must be sick? What is wrong with this country? Sorry for the rant. : ) Keep up the good work.
Scheduling my week in advance helps me keep my balance. It may seem like it would add rigidity, but instead it actually helps me be more flexible with my free time. I can’t negotiate being at work from 9 to 5 so I go to work and plan the rest of my day around that schedule. In the same sense, I wont negotiate my Sundays with family, my daily hour at the gym, or my few moments of meditation before bedtime. Everything else will HAVE to fit around these important guidelines in my schedule. Keeping those priorities creates some flexibility without losing sight of what’s really important.
Balance – I struggle with it all the time. I am an all or nothing thinker and I really am trying to rid myself of that. I totally fell off the wagon on the weekend (bday party) and felt horrible physically…. I have no solution at the moment – I just keep trying.
I do pretty well keeping a reasonably well balanced & appropriate workout routine & schedule but dieting is so very different and so very difficult. To lose weight or maintain my proper weight I am a very restrictive eater – this is most of the time. My dietician works with me to add foods that keep my diet healthy (healthy fats and enough grains) and include treat foods I enjoy at a reasonable level to prevent binges of gluttonous consumption. I am very unsuccessful in that area. I just have not been able to incorporate the “no BAD food” reality into my daily diet.
I have a very difficult time with “balance” in my life. I lost 103 pounds, and I am so afraid of gaining it back that I am “over the edge” strict with my eating, and extremely crazy when it comes to exercise. I have a hard time allowing treats because I go overboard all of the time. And, I am at the gym 2 hours Monday through Friday – even when I am weak and sickly, or injured.
I have heard people talk about this topic several times, but I still have a hard time getting out of this “place” that I am in.
hi and love u for your topics.The point is that I don’t like to find balance. I love overdoing exercises and I really enjoy it.