Balance is a state of equilibrium: stability, calmness, harmony, serenity. But, for many, that equilibrium is missing.

My life has been unbalanced. I’ve often not spent as much time honoring and caring for the core of me as I’ve spent dealing with body and mind matters. (Have you experienced that?)

Professional jugglers know the importance of balance in their craft. They practice and perfect it. We probably juggle a lot too, yet we haven’t figured out how to keep it all in the air, so, sometimes, what falls to the ground is us!

Robert Fulghum wrote in, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, “Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.” What a great example of body, mind, and spirit working!

Along with not always maintaining balance, I often let my car’s gas tank hit almost empty before I fill it. I’m so busy doing and running that I wait until my car is screaming, “EMPTY.” I’ve allowed my personal tank to be empty, too, not “fueling up” before tackling the next project or month. There’ve been times when I haven’t “filled up” for a year!

How do you fill up your tanks—mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual? Do you use your mind only to think one way? Do you fill your body with junk or never give it the rest that it needs? Do you ignore your feelings by allowing people to treat you as “less than”? Do you neglect your spirituality—the core of your being?

You can’t be everything to everyone and not be exhausted and burned out. Recognize where, and with whom, you should spend your energy, not forgetting that you need to be on the top of your list. You can’t “be there” for others if you’re falling apart yourself.

Sometimes you’re depleted because you’re running as fast as possible from what brings you down or causes pain. But, those issues won’t disappear until you meet them head-on by solving the problem or extricating yourself from the situation.

We sometimes believe that by trying hard enough, we can handle everything! I’ve been guilty of that, feeling like I’m supposed to be Wonder Woman juggling what’s thrown at me, solving all problems, ignoring fear, hurt, exhaustion. Then, when my tank finally yelled “EMPTY” in big, red, obnoxious letters, I’d beat myself up for not being strong or resilient enough to handle it all!

My perfectionist tendencies still trip me up, but I understand how my life experiences have groomed me for “not taking the easy way out.” I’ve learned from my mistakes but still run my tank empty too often, become unbalanced, and have to step back to step forward, but I’m not as hard on myself as I used to be. I’m trying to honor my belief that living joyfully and peacefully is more important than making things happen perfectly. That’s what I want for you too.

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