For me, this is always something that is at the forefront of my life. A work-life balance. This is my current struggle right now being a professional basketball player, I get to play the game I love but I have to live across the world from my friends and family to do it. I know this season won’t last forever but there are so many different seasons in life that I think it will apply to.
In my mind, I always feel a constant pull between “work work work, I have to grind harder to get to where I want to be” and “it’s okay to slow down and rest, you can try again tomorrow, go enjoy yourself”.
WHYYYY is this such a hard balancing act and such a fine line to figure out?
I think we first feel pulled in so many different directions by different people in our lives, but it’s up to us to figure out what it truly important. Second, the perfect image we have of ourselves and want to portray to the world can also get us way out of whack focused on the wrong things to appease others and fit in.
Third, I think society these days is super into glorifying the lifestyle of people who grind non-stop to make their dreams come true. And I do respect the hell out of those people. But working 14-hour days for years to get to where they wanted to be? That AIN’T it for me. REST IS GOOD. Rest is needed. We can work hard and still take time to rest as well.
Something different will work for everyone, but I want to enjoy this life along the way, with more laughs with friends and family, time spent at the lake or just building better relationships with people close to me. Maybe that will set me back a few years from SOME of my dreams. But I truly think there can be a balance that is manageable and gives you *mostly* the best of both worlds.
I find myself asking myself, am I really too tired to work out today? Or am I just being lazy? Is forcing myself to put in more work going to make me feel better or should I take the day and let my body rest? Ugh it’s soooo hard to decide sometimes. This is true for whatever goal or career or life phase you are living in right now.
I can’t tell you what level of working hard/chilling will be the best balance for you. But it definitely won’t always be 50/50 (and maybe those aren’t even the correct numbers for you!) I do know that too much of one or the other will NOT leave you happy and feeling fulfilled either.
Right now maybe things are a little less crazy than normal, maybe they are even crazier!! Either way, you can always work to improve the balancing scales (if you already have it down pls message me and tell me the secret haha)
Here’s what has helped me.
Priorities – What is important to YOU? Not your mom, your significant other, your friends, your in laws etc. You can have lots of great things in life but I don’t know if they will always all happen at once. You need to decide what is important and then you can start to test and figure out the balance of all those pieces.
Ask for help – and then TAKE the HELP. Say yes to things and people offering stuff that will make your life easier, in any aspect of the life you are trying to balance. Don’t feel guilty and don’t feel like a failure because you can’t do everything yourself.
Keep perspective – all the stress and things you have going on in your life… someone else is dreaming about that right now. That statement is not supposed to guilt trip you, it’s just good to keep some perspective sometimes when we get caught up in the craziness.
Take a breath – literally. Stop and breathe. For me when sometimes tells me to calm down I don’t get mad, I try to really stop and do it and I’m like, ya I was spiraling and I need to reset real quick.
Look for the little signs that signify you’re on the right path – whether you believe and follow a God or not I like to think that there’s always signs around us that can be seen as encouraging to the paths we are on.
Thanks for reading,
Emily
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