An inspiring and beautiful read. This particular part hit me: “At the end of your life, I think you’ll look back at all the times where you gave yourself so wholly to something, as some of the most enriching experiences.” Yes 100% to this. As someone who struggles with perfectionism on a surface level I think in my soul I long for my freedom, to do what feels right. Not find balance in ensuring I dabble into a little bit of this and that. I wholeheartedly believe that’s not what life is about. Thank you so much for your words.
Love how you touched on the importance of giving yourself the freedom to live seasonally while resisting the pressure of balance. It doesn’t matter if you live seasonally or in perfect harmony, if you have internalized shame or let the chorus of “shoulds” manage your time, you will never find satisfaction!
Yes, being joyfully drawn into a place or a project for weeks or months at a time and then crawling out and throwing yourself in another direction until you are equally unbalanced is the way to live.
I love this so much and is so in line with this idea I’ve had recently about how I need to follow my body/instinct and less my mind? I feel like our generation has been totally messed up social media/technology and now chronically overthink about what we “should” be doing at every given moment. As weird as it sounds, I’m actually trying to listen to my mind less and just jump into what feels right
Thank you! “Balance” is such a deceptive word. You so beautifully illustrated the power of getting lost in an activity for a season to the exclusion of all else. There is a joy in that kind of experience that is so worth the tradeoff of consistency or balance (sometimes). Well said.
I think maybe it’s because I’m young but I keep trying to preserve every option open because my mind usually tries to determine whether what I’m "investing" disproportionate time/effort into will yield something tangible beyond just the intrinsic enjoyment of it. I think maybe decoupling the idea that there has to be an end to something you’re going deep on beyond that you want to might help me, but only time will tell.
Reading this, I thought of an analogy for the balanced and the seasonal life.
The seasonal life is like walking in a forest. You walk, look around, see something interesting, stop to look at it, hear something and decide to follow the sound. You can get lost in the forest and then find your way back to the path. Or you can stumble upon a different path and choose to follow it instead. Walking takes some effort because the terrain isn't flat, there are rocks, and slopes, and leaves, and sticks, and to go on adventures in the forest, you have to be attentive to your surroundings. Of course, there are beasts, you can probably hear ghosts or other creatures, but that's the risk of walking in a forest.
Living a balanced is like walking on a tightrope in the sky above that forest. You just keep walking straight ahead, no detours, no options for another path. Nothing interesting really happens. You also have to be very focused to keep your balance. You CANNOT lose your focus, otherwise you'll fall. Walking on the tightrope first feels difficult, you fall many times, but you get back up on it. If you do it long enough, it becomes automatic, routine, but it still puts a strain on your body and mind. At some point you get tired and then you fall to the forest, where your heart has longed to be all along.
Loved this! I taut balance often but you’ve made such a powerful argument to the faults it has. I love the idea of leaning into seasons (i just wrote about leaning into winter!) but i also try to uphold certain pillars that keep me balanced throughout every season. For me, sleep, a healthyish diet and some type of food prep, exercise and walking keep me balanced and nourished which in turn gives me energy to jump all in to different creative pursuits or hobbies I may be wanting to try.
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this post, it is just what I needed to hear (or read) right now. I'm a self-diagnosed perfectionist as well, and the stress of doing everything (well) crept in without me realising it. I nodded along to your post so much, it resonated a lot with me, and served as a wonderful reminder that it is okay to live life in seasons. Thanks for writing this!
I read this book by some neuroscientist. Pretty funny stuff, actually. She explained how stress literally shuts down the thinking parts of your brain you need to solve problems.
So basically, your brain's like "Oh, you're stressed? Let me help by making you even more helpless."
Not only that, it also shuts down the parts of the brain that allow you to visualize a better future.
An inspiring and beautiful read. This particular part hit me: “At the end of your life, I think you’ll look back at all the times where you gave yourself so wholly to something, as some of the most enriching experiences.” Yes 100% to this. As someone who struggles with perfectionism on a surface level I think in my soul I long for my freedom, to do what feels right. Not find balance in ensuring I dabble into a little bit of this and that. I wholeheartedly believe that’s not what life is about. Thank you so much for your words.
❤️❤️❤️ thank you so much for reading!
Love how you touched on the importance of giving yourself the freedom to live seasonally while resisting the pressure of balance. It doesn’t matter if you live seasonally or in perfect harmony, if you have internalized shame or let the chorus of “shoulds” manage your time, you will never find satisfaction!
Yes, being joyfully drawn into a place or a project for weeks or months at a time and then crawling out and throwing yourself in another direction until you are equally unbalanced is the way to live.
You had me at an image of Before Sunset
I’m so glad :’)
I love this so much and is so in line with this idea I’ve had recently about how I need to follow my body/instinct and less my mind? I feel like our generation has been totally messed up social media/technology and now chronically overthink about what we “should” be doing at every given moment. As weird as it sounds, I’m actually trying to listen to my mind less and just jump into what feels right
Absolutely same here! I’ve started to value simply listening to my body and my instinct a lot more, there’s wisdom in there
Love this perspective x
Thank you! “Balance” is such a deceptive word. You so beautifully illustrated the power of getting lost in an activity for a season to the exclusion of all else. There is a joy in that kind of experience that is so worth the tradeoff of consistency or balance (sometimes). Well said.
Thank you!! Very glad it resonated 🫶
I think maybe it’s because I’m young but I keep trying to preserve every option open because my mind usually tries to determine whether what I’m "investing" disproportionate time/effort into will yield something tangible beyond just the intrinsic enjoyment of it. I think maybe decoupling the idea that there has to be an end to something you’re going deep on beyond that you want to might help me, but only time will tell.
Reading this, I thought of an analogy for the balanced and the seasonal life.
The seasonal life is like walking in a forest. You walk, look around, see something interesting, stop to look at it, hear something and decide to follow the sound. You can get lost in the forest and then find your way back to the path. Or you can stumble upon a different path and choose to follow it instead. Walking takes some effort because the terrain isn't flat, there are rocks, and slopes, and leaves, and sticks, and to go on adventures in the forest, you have to be attentive to your surroundings. Of course, there are beasts, you can probably hear ghosts or other creatures, but that's the risk of walking in a forest.
Living a balanced is like walking on a tightrope in the sky above that forest. You just keep walking straight ahead, no detours, no options for another path. Nothing interesting really happens. You also have to be very focused to keep your balance. You CANNOT lose your focus, otherwise you'll fall. Walking on the tightrope first feels difficult, you fall many times, but you get back up on it. If you do it long enough, it becomes automatic, routine, but it still puts a strain on your body and mind. At some point you get tired and then you fall to the forest, where your heart has longed to be all along.
Loved this! I taut balance often but you’ve made such a powerful argument to the faults it has. I love the idea of leaning into seasons (i just wrote about leaning into winter!) but i also try to uphold certain pillars that keep me balanced throughout every season. For me, sleep, a healthyish diet and some type of food prep, exercise and walking keep me balanced and nourished which in turn gives me energy to jump all in to different creative pursuits or hobbies I may be wanting to try.
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this post, it is just what I needed to hear (or read) right now. I'm a self-diagnosed perfectionist as well, and the stress of doing everything (well) crept in without me realising it. I nodded along to your post so much, it resonated a lot with me, and served as a wonderful reminder that it is okay to live life in seasons. Thanks for writing this!
I read this book by some neuroscientist. Pretty funny stuff, actually. She explained how stress literally shuts down the thinking parts of your brain you need to solve problems.
So basically, your brain's like "Oh, you're stressed? Let me help by making you even more helpless."
Not only that, it also shuts down the parts of the brain that allow you to visualize a better future.
I’m so glad!! 💗💗💗