Finding Balance
Balance is a word that is thrown around in about every environment these days, and there is a reason! It is highly important in our daily lives.
But, how does one find balance? Especially in a world that expects us to work full time, raise children, have a social life, maintain a clean home…need I continue?
This is a journey that seems to never end but I am grateful for the experiences that have led me to find my own balance. It all started when I had my first child. After a very difficult delivery, I suffered from post-partum, weight issues and digestive imbalances that wreaked havoc on my daily life. Step one was finding my spirituality through one of my now-favorite authors, Gabby Bernstein. I discovered her book, The Universe Has Your Back, when my first-born was about 2 years old. It was through her guidance that I was able to manifest change in my life, and eventually resolve both my weight and my digestive struggles. Gabby is another post for another day, given how profoundly her guidance has supported my own journey.
Step two came with the next challenge: opening a business with my husband while raising two children and maintaining another full time job. That’s right, the American dream. [insert eye roll] In this world, to maintain steady income, keep our home, feed our children and have affordable health insurance, keeping another full time job was the only way to make our business dream a reality. So, that is what I did for two years, signing a lease just after leaving the hospital with my newborn son, and opening a business in the midst of the worldwide pandemic and a full time job on the side. Good grief. I thought I had it dialed, I worked both jobs tirelessly, from home, with both kids in tow, and maintaining a clean home. I was the image of perfection in my mind…until I broke. But, sometimes, breaking ourselves open is how we heal. Just as a seed breaks open to allow the tiny plant to begin to grow and push its way toward sunlight, so too do we transform and grow into who we are meant to be. In 2022, I resigned from my second full time job to focus solely on the family business. My life was beginning to fall into balance. Almost.
Step three was letting go. Letting go of the need to be perfect, the need to be doing everything, all the time. Letting go of the need to control everything. And this step is still a work in progress, but it is exactly how I landed here. Sharing the art I love. Following my departure from my other job, I found I needed to fill something…I felt the loss of autonomy with the merging of work with my husband, in full. So, I went back to my music and my photography. I started to move my body again, focusing on small yoga-based workouts and daily walks. I set up gigs to play music again and started my journey with an online market for my photography. Sharing what brings me joy gave me a new clarity in life. A new purpose. And it made me a more level-headed mother and leader in my business.
While I am no shining example of perfection, I know how to right myself now. As Gabby says, it’s all about the comeback rate, or how fast you reset after falling out of alignment. Balance exists naturally in the world, and all you need to do to find it is let go and allow the Universe to lead the way.
