Finding Balance

So often I have thought to myself, in one way or another, that my struggle in life seems to be balance. When things get super crazy, I have this vision in my head of juggling, and the balls just flying all over the place because I can't get it together. There have been times I have thought that I really have it together, and I'm feeling great, and I start pushing myself to do more and more. Then everything falls apart and I'm back to square one.

I have mentioned many times that my chiropractor has been heaven-sent this past year, helping me with my mysterious health problems. As I've been struggling to understand test results and grappling with the decision of whether or not I should take a potentially harmful prescription medication, my beloved chiropractor has succinctly put things in perspective for me and helped me to clarify something that has bothered me for years. Using the analogy of a teeter-totter, he explained to me what should be obvious; everyone is always trying to remain in balance, to keep that teeter-totter steady, with equally distributed weight. For me, he explained, it takes less to upset that balance, and I then have a greater reaction to the resulting imbalance than the average person.

These words have been on my mind for weeks, and the more I think about what he said the more I think I understand. Now it's a matter of trying to figure out how, why, and when I'm getting out of balance. I'm beginning to see that I can't rush myself. As much as I'd like to, I can't jump into a rigorous exercise routine. I have to start out slow, and gradually increase the time and intensity of my work outs. This is probably good advice for anyone, but I'm finding that I have to take it painfully slow unless I want to throw myself into a tailspin. I have to get a decent amount of sleep, which slapped me in the face today. Last night I had a second wind late at night. After falling asleep for a short time I woke up and started doing stuff, and didn't get nearly enough sleep. All day I've been off. Headachy and woozy and feeling almost sea sick. I took a nap, which helped somewhat, but not enough. I can't go too long without food and drink throughout the day or I'll be nauseated and miserable and maybe even wind up with one of my super doozy headaches. So if I know I'm going to be out for several hours, I need to either plan on making more than one stop for food and drink, or pack my own stuff in my purse and/or van. I just can't go three or four hours without eating or drinking anything. My time of month presumably means changes in hormone levels. This is often a time of severe, nauseating headaches for me which make it difficult to function. I'm not really sure what to do about this one, except to make sure I take something for the pain the very second it begins, because if I let it go for too long, getting the pain under control becomes impossible.

What I'm discovering is that I can't juggle too many balls at once. I have to add new ones slowly and gradually. I have to be gentle to myself. I have to pay attention to my needs. I need to find my own ways to stay balanced. I can't rush. I can't over-do it. This is hard because I'm busy and there's always a lot of things I want to be doing or should be doing, but the alternative - which I've learned the hard way time and time again - is to be knocked on my butt with a severe headache, nausea, exhaustion, mental fatigue, and sometime even a chest cold, sore throat, or cough. Then I get nothing accomplished, so it's better if I just listen to my body to begin with. I'm learning to pick up on my own cues and to roll with them. It's a process to figure it all out, but I'm doing my best.

Please, please, please help me out by heading to Wyndham Women on Their Way and voting for my entry in the contest. I'll be begging and pleading for votes all month, and you can vote daily. It truly only takes a quick second, just click on the link & then click on the green thumbs up to like my entry. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who takes the time to help me out by voting for me. It would mean so much to me to win this contest!