If I close my eyes and think about about life balance, the image of me standing with several balls juggling them up in the air keeping them moving comes to mind.  And that song, you know the clown song that plays when a clown is juggling comes into my head. Ya -da-dada- dada-dad-dad-da-da… You get the point. Each ball represents an area of of my life. They are all equally flowing through the air.

Except that really isn’t what life balance is about at all. There are many perceptions like that about balance. Every area being treated equally. It all always easily flowing. Nope…Not real life. But the idea of balance is still an important concept and important to pay attention to.

Balance is navigating our interests, relationships, and responsibilities in a way that provides a sense of wellbeing and satisfaction.

So while, juggling smoothly and effortlessly is what balance seems like it might look like. It usually doesn’t but feeling out of sinc is important to do something about and this is what you need to know about balance as a result.

Here is what you need to know about balance to start on the path of discovering what you can do to go from feeling out of wack to seeing what you can do to change things.

Tune in to how you are feeling and trust yourself: There are a lot of areas of life to think about. It is important to tune into ourselves when we are feeling out of sinc.  Trust that instinct. A sense of balance is about your satisfaction with how different elements of your life are feel like they are flowing. Or how you noticed others in your family are handling them.

Balance is not about spending the same or perfect amount of time on each area of life. Is that what you thought it was? You are not alone! It’s easy to want the magic formula when it comes to how we should be spending our time to be in balance, however the amount of time spent on each area and how we feel in relation to it varies depending on the needs in those areas and different seasons of life. When my kids were very little the amount of time I needed to spend on them was much more intensive time wise, but now as they are older the time is not as much but there is much more we tackle in that time together.

Balance and what plays into a feeling of balance varies from person to person. Just as what balance looks like varies during different seasons of our lives, it also varies from person to person. What it takes for a friend to be in balance and in sink with each area of their life is also different then what it takes for us to achieve this.

Pay attention to a feeling of being restless or out of balance: It is important to pay attention when you feel out of balance because it means something needs to change. In the last couple of weeks, I have been noticing this in myself. I have gotten sloppy with some of my responsibility. For me, that is a sign I am doing too much and need to re-prioritize what I am doing with my time.

Taking Steps to Balance:

Here are the next steps to take when it comes to balance.

1)List out the different areas of life that you want to balance:

2)Rate each of those areas as to your level of satisfaction from 0 (not satisfied at all) 10 (awesomely satisfied).

3)When you see how you rated each of those areas, what needs your attention the most right now? Making a change in what area would give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to satisfaction?

Would a close family member or friend agree with you?

4)What small step could you take this week to bring that area back into the balance and how your feel about life?

Balance is not some out of reach mystical thing. It is about taking what you have going on in your life and deciding how you are going to use the time and efforts in those areas. Balance means tightening your circles and focusing in on those areas that mean the most to you.