Balance is something we are all striving for but never seem to find. If you are like me, you have a person in your life who seems very zen, but you have no idea how this person does it.
Personally, I am generally in a state of combined stress, panic and anxiousness from all I have on my professional plate.
One day while searching everywhere and anywhere for balance, I found a lost sock, and I stumbled on a quote by Jana Kingsford, "Balance isn't something you find. It's something you create." Where has this wise woman been for the last 30 years of my life?!
Good news: I can stop looking for balance...and lost socks.
Bad news: I've got work to do to create balance in my life.
And if you are like me, and I bet you are, you want to know how to create balance too. I'll let you in on a little secret, if I actually knew how to create balance I wouldn't be blogging about it, I'd be doing it.
However, when I speak with educators, primarily female educators, it is one of the first things they convey to me. They want to know how to create balance in their lives. They want to take care and nurture themselves and their colleagues to maintain good physical and mental health, so they can tackle the challenges their demanding careers and lives require.
Summer is a great time to develop good habits and create that allusive balance in our lives. These good habits can be carried with us into the new school year.
Every July as my schedule as an educator became more flexible, I would dive head first into self-care. Unfortunately, once the school year fully resumed in the fall, the habits I had tried to develop started to slowly slip away. But now I know that I let them slip away.
If this period of COVID has taught me anything, it is the importance of a more consistent routine for a balanced life. With regular sleep, a balanced diet and movement, I've felt more balance. And by having the gift of increased time at home during our NY Pause I've been able to take daily walks, which is as much "exercise" as this woman can muster, but I can tell that I am developing a habit that I want to, I even need to, maintain as my work pace starts to increase in intensity again. And if I can feel myself creating more balance...so can you!
We've convinced ourselves that being our best selves means filling our days with all of the very important and needed work we must do to be exemplary educators, activists and unionists. But in reality, we aren't the best at anything when we are trying to do everything. Because when we neglect ourselves our family and our friends and aren't taking the time to recharge and rejuvenate, we aren't living a balanced life.
So, I "stole" three ideas from a Better Homes and Garden magazine article (June 2020) and added one more idea on my own. These ideas are simple, good reminders of easy things you can do to help live a more balanced life:
- Exercise.
- Try to find 30 minutes multiple times per week. Restorative exercise is great for creating a feeling of balance like yoga or Tai Chi. A walk, bike ride or hike in nature is terrific too.
- Sleep.
- Consistent bed times and wake times are crucial. Experts say most of us aren't getting enough sleep so 7 - 8.5 hours is optimal.
- Carve out some "me time."
- Spend 30 minutes a day on self-care. Now, for someone like me, if I get 30 minutes of movement I may just need to count that as both my exercise and my "me time." For others, meditation, deep breathing, reading, sketching/painting, listening to music, dancing or writing might do the trick. Call a friend, work on a hobby, or garden. Heck, attending a rally, parade or protest safely may also be a way to carve out some time for yourself.
- Reduce your screen time.
- I think this tip needs no explanation.Unplug! It takes a few days but once you have detoxed from the phone, tablet or computer, you feel free! To help with the transition, set up 2-3 times during the day when you will check the device(s) but then put them out of sight the rest of the time and don't cheat until it is time to check again.
In that same BHG magazine I saw a powerful quote from entrepreneur, Jen Gotch,
"Think of self-help as tending your lawn.
Mowing is a quick fix,
but you have to really dig deep to get rid of the weeds.
It takes work."
While I know none of you want summer homework, maybe creating balance in your life is something you can find time to "dig deep" and work on during this unusual summer. So, I challenge all of the educators out there. How will you find balance in your life?
