I wanted to do a brief a look at the idea of maintaining a balance within our lives, this was appealing as most days I have to fight to retain my balance. As such I thought it would be good idea for us together to find our balance, maintain it and be the better for knowing how to cope with the balancing act.
Sometimes it’s hard to know when there’s a sense of imbalance in our lives, we’re all unique so although I hope my perspective on the subject matter helps I realise that it might not work for everybody but the aim here is to discuss the subject matter, self-reflect and hopefully help ourselves.
What is Balance?
Balance is the concept of all things within our lives being equal so that one aspect of our life doesn’t weigh down the others causing neglect: be it to our health, our passions or to other people in our lives. The idea of Balance means that we put in the right amount of effort into a given aspect of life so that it works in equilibrium with everything else, if we put too much effort and focus into one task other parts of our life become neglected therefore our sense of balance will start to shift and the one task will weigh on the others making it cause problems and neglect.
I will give an example from myself although it be it to the extreme, when I’m in “Hyper Focus” my entire body and function is given to a single task I’m able to accomplish so much because I’m so focused on the given task or interest, but this creates an imbalance and self-neglect because I’m not paying attention to any other aspect of my life. So, I may forget to eat / drink this means are health is impacted / imbalanced, I may forget appointments or simple tasks around the house which means my life and home is neglected after prolonged time these impacts create imbalance and can causing impacts. If we neglect our nutrition we can suffer medical issues, fatigue and nutritional deficit problems the effects of which can impact all aspects of life, this imbalance and neglect has therefore impacted our entire life.
What is a 'Balancing Act'
The ‘Balancing Act’ is a phrase commonly used to indicate that you’re trying to balance multiple aspects of your life to ensure that all matters are given an equal amount of attention and focus so that all other aspects of your life aren’t impacted nor neglected. This ‘Balancing Act’ is very unique to each individual because the weight of one task might be different or more impactful for one person than another; knowing the correct distribution of effort to receive maximum enjoyment, remove self-neglect and increase mental well-being can be a difficult task but like most things you need to simply give it some thought because maybe some tasks aren’t being give enough attention (I’m looking at the mess on the table next to me…) this might simply because they’re not joyful tasks but lack of attention on them can be impactful on others that you do enjoy or cause negative implications such as stress.
For example, this messy table next to me doesn’t impact my ability to write this blog post as we speak but what about when I move on to another task such as shooting a video, I know from time to time I don’t put all my equipment back where it should be and it could be under all the mess on the table. By neglecting that aspect of my life it has caused imbalance in another because I’m unable to find components to the task I’m trying to work on, this can cause stress and time delays which means less time can be spent on the task and imbalance will follow.
Why is this all important?
Sometimes we aren’t aware of the impact when we engage in a task too much or too little has on the grand scheme of our lives but if we don’t take time to take stock of why we’re experiencing negative effects from a task and why certain joyful tasks are being diminished by other aspects of our lives then we won’t know to fix the problem. When our lives are in balance it allows for the least amount of impact in all aspects of our lives and makes moving from task to task so much easier.
As with most things I write seems like a lot of thinking, self-reflection and obsessive thinking; you would be right. Yet when you create an automated mentality that thinks about how parts of your life are impacting others you become self-aware which allows you to correct the imbalance and better your life; once this mentality is engrained within us it doesn’t become over-thinking, self-reflection and obsessive it becomes a healthy maintainable routine for the betterment of our lives.
Signs of Imbalance
We can’t always blame struggles within our lives on imbalance but as with most things if we see an aspect of our life being neglected, we should take the time to find out why? Be it a medical problem, psychological or that self-neglect is caused by the imbalance of distribution of time and effort in aspects of your life. Knowing the difference will help you identify the problem, as always if it’s not something you can identify or believe to be cause of imbalance seek the guidance of a trained medical professional to rule out other matters to ensure you’re always looking after yourself and others appropriately.
Health Problems
Now I’m not saying every ailment that knocks at our door is because of imbalance in our lives but it does have an impact on our health, well-being and our mental health which can make other ailments more difficult to deal with and recover from as such it can have an impact.
I find a big factor for imbalance is stress and mental health issues, it could be that aspects of your life are being paid too much attention or too little. Are you focusing on your work too much, putting it so many extra hours in the hope that your boss will notice and put you in their good books? While doing this you could be imbalance aspects of your life such as your diet (eating habits), reducing the amount of hours sleep you’re getting and not taking part in your daily jog you used to enjoy because the time spent on those tasks is being redistributed to another task which depending on the tasks neglected can cause health problems be it your mental health or nutritional / exercise (or lack there of).
Now we all know life isn’t perfect we can’t always distribute the way we want to in order to retain our perfect balance but we need to have the self-awareness on the impact these shifts in balance and time distribution have on other aspects of our lives because we need to know when to course correct and take part in the Balancing Act so that we can ensure we’re not falling into a state of neglect.
Struggling with Tasks
One of my biggest signs an aspect of my life is in imbalance is that a task that I used to do so easily has now become such a problem, now this could be that my brain is having a dysfunctional day or it could be the fact I’ve neglected doing the hoovering for so long that I now have to empty it several times before I’m done. The increased difficulty in doing this task means it causes me stress, takes longer and I’m unable to return to other tasks as quickly which leaves them impacted too.
It's not always evident why a task might becoming a struggle, the example I provided regarding hoovering might be rather obvious but sometimes the impact on certain tasks is behind a wall of multiple neglected aspects of your life and sometimes it’s a long journey to get that balance back but self-awareness of the problem is the first step in a course correction and rebalancing to ensure we’re not in a state of neglect.
Trying to Master the Balancing Act
As with most things we don’t identify them instantly, we don’t always know the cause of all life’s problems and we certain don’t always know the solution but as with most things in life it’s a journey to know and understand ourselves, aspects within it and how we our unique selves need to act upon what you identify in a positive way for the betterment of your life.
The first step when I’m feeling there’s something off is to check what might the cause be, it might not always be neglect and imbalance but an actual health problem so it’s always wise to keep our options open but nevertheless we need to inspect our lives and identify the problem. If after self-reflection we feel we might be focusing too much on one task and neglecting others we’ve identified a potential imbalance within our lives that’s worth looking into further.
It might not always be so obvious or as simple as how I’m projecting it is within my writings but you will know yourself better than anybody else, you will know if something is off within your life and soon as you know you can start to find the cause.
Finding the cause
Once we’ve identified imbalance within our lives then we need to find the cause, you might have already got some ideas after your self-reflection but the deeper we look there might be several problems we find on our way as such it’s always good to get a look at the big picture to see if it’s not just one aspect of your life that’s changed.
You might see the imbalance as you’ve started a new Hobby therefore, you’re putting more time and effort into that because it’s new and enjoyable; this is normal but over a long period of time this may cause neglect for other tasks in your life that would of needed your attention.
So, you’ve identified you’re not spending as much time on other tasks this could be house work, your job or workouts etc either way the time you put into these other tasks is having an impact on aspects of your life as such we need to start a course correction but this doesn’t need to be drastic or even long term.
Start a Course Correction
A course correction can be a temporary or permanent change in the balance of time and attention we put into tasks so that we may rebalance our lives and ensure we find a new balance and equilibrium within our lives that adjust to new within our lives. Remember introducing new things into your lives changes our balance but a course correction will allow you to ensure we’re not neglecting ourselves and others but to build a new expectation to ensure all aspects of our life are seen and maintained in balance.
Let’s keep with the aforementioned example of a new Hobby, we may identify we’re neglecting some housework and our workout routine because we’re spending more time on our Hobby. We’ve identified this doesn’t mean we have to give up the Hobby but we can do a temporary course correction and maybe for a week we tone down the Hobby so that we can recover the neglect from other aspects of our lives and then get back to enjoying our new Hobby.
The work doesn’t stop there we’re aware in the moment of what’s happening now but the next step is to ensure that awareness is more readily available to us so we can see the problem of neglect prior to the effects impacting on our lives.
Plan for the Future
Once we become more self-aware of our lives from the day to day or to the picking up of new aspects of our life we need to balance; I find a long-term solution helps go with our new found awareness this can be as simple as doing regular check-ins to see if there’s anything off or being neglected and set yourself routines that almost become an automated course correction preventing imbalance before it happens and therefore neglected the long term impacts of self-neglect.
It could be that the new Hobby is here to stay and you find a lot of joy in this aspect of your life but you realise it takes up a lot of your time and still want to maintain a clean household and ensure keeping up with fitness levels as such you could plan a weekly routine around doing a house clean and ensuring you do a few short burst workout routines each week to maintain your fitness maintenance levels as to reduce any health impacts.
Don’t forget to check in with yourself, see how the routines and other aspects of your life are going and sometimes another course correction is required when an aspect of your life changes, this could be a new job, relationship or an amazing new Hobby just ensure you’re looking after yourself and not neglected aspects of your life.
How does this relate to Hobbies and Special Interests?
I’m aware we’re a Hobby and Special Interest Blog and Content Creation space but the fact of the matter is imbalance effects all aspects of your life this includes your Hobbies and Interests as such it’s important we cover these things to maintain our health, mental well-being and give ourselves the best mindset to enjoy our Hobby and Interests. Therefore, anything that impacts our lives negatively can have an impact on our joyous leisure activities as such I feel a need to cover them to ensure you as a part of this community look after yourself and enjoy your Hobby to the fullest.
I know I’ve had a multitude of times where my fixation on passion projects (such as this Blog and Content Creation) has been all consuming and divert a lot of my time away from other aspects of my life but once the dust settles and I’m back within the land of the living as it were I take stock of my life, well-being and mindset to see what I need as an individual, course correct and get back to a healthy state of being. Speaking of which I think I will plan a nice endurance cycle tomorrow it’s been something I’ve been putting off this week due to health reasons but now I’m back on my feet I think it will be just the ticket to get my balance back, give my Hobby a little time to breath / relax and to see to my other needs.
Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings, I hope something within this helps you identify any imbalance within your life and allows you to course correct for the betterment of your well-being. If you want to share your experiences feel free to do so or provide feedback if this is something you’ve tried or constructive feedback on my terrible writing / grammar skills; I know it’s not the greatest I’m more of a numbers person but doesn’t mean my heart isn’t in the right place in trying to communicate with wonderful people. Have a lovely day, may it be exactly what you need in life and ensure to maintain a healthy balance within your life.
The Dreaded Signing Off...
The early days of our content and blog will be focused on around general subject matters, something we can all relate to, such as time, money and organising / routines then branching out to more diverse and sometimes wacky subject matters all to get you thinking about your Hobby in different ways but also for you to pay it forward and teach us about your Hobbies.
I thank you for making it to the end, there are and should be other blogs for you to read; if you like diversity in your content you can watch our video-based content on YouTube, our reels and photos on Instagram or you can swing by our live streaming on Twitch to engage with us in real time, no matter your content of choice I can’t wait to hear from you.
*Please note any funding or donations towards the Hobbyist Community goes into helping fund the creation of the content here and I thank everyone for their time in visiting our website and other media.
Have a lovely day and happy Hobbying.
