We all need to strive for more balance in our lives. Or do we...?

There is a lot of buzz about finding the perfect work/life balance. You need to have a balanced approach to your work. You need to make time for yourself; you need to make time for your family. All of that is true in certain respects. But here’s a different perspective - A colleague once told me that balance was something from which he recoiled. He equated balance with mediocrity. To him it implied that excellence needed to be dialed back, and areas that required improvement needed additional attention in order to bring about equilibrium. Hmm, interesting.  My Cousin tells me she finds balance in the extremes. All-in when she’s working, and completely unplugged when on vacation.
The truth is balance is different for everyone. And perhaps the goal should be clarity and not balance. We had a great discussion on the weekend around balance and what it means for each of us. My insightful friend Ciel used the metaphor of an infinity loop to describe a relationship with balance. The center point represents Clarity. The loops pull us away from center as different aspects of our life take priority. Sometimes our work, sometimes our family, or maybe our health requires us to detour away from center for a while. But always there is tension pulling us back from the outside edge of the loop to bring us back to that center point.
I believe it is clarity that keeps us centered. That clarity can be elusive at times. It takes a great deal of self-awareness. Soul searching. Understanding your strengths. Embracing your authenticity. Having this depth of understanding of yourself can bring about clarity of purpose; an alignment with our authentic values and strengths; clarity around what anchors us in our life. I think we need to go a step beyond that as well and be aware of the rhythms that occur in your life. We all have times when we are most productive, more creative, have more or less energy. These times can cycle daily or change with the seasons, they are unique to each of us. So often our schedules are structured around what works best for others – our employer, our family, but rarely ourselves. Taking some time to evaluate where we are operating at our best can relieve some of the pressure to find balance. Dancing with those rhythms around the infinite loop, but always having clarity bring us back to center.
That’s my slightly different perspective on balance today. Enjoy the Dance!