ANCHORED.
Is it just me, or is anybody else out there feeling like "balance" is a myth?! Everyone is always talking about finding this magical, blissful place of balance where all things are in sync, and all aspects of life are equally and adequately attended to. I'm not so sure I'm buying into that.
As a professional student there are many things to balance such as your scholastic performance, leadership involvement, and probably a part-time job - just to name a few. And of course you can't forget about balancing the varying aspects of your personal life like being social with your friends, keeping up with family, or maintaining a relationship with your significant other. What about spiritual balance? As a follower of Christ I always feel the need to make sure I am praying daily, meditating, studying God's Word, and serving at a local church. If you are studying to be a future health care professional, then the pressure is on - you can't neglect to balance your actual health!? That means meal prepping, actual grocery shopping, cooking, getting enough sleep (at least 7 hours, right?), and exercising at least 3 days per week. Oh and I almost forgot that you have to drink one gallon of water per day - as if I didn't have to pee enough already. And to top it off, as a black woman with natural hair, you absolutely must tend to your kinky curly tresses which can take more than 24 hours on an intense wash and style day! Somewhere in the midst of balancing all of these items I am supposed to find time for hobbies I truly enjoy like playing the piano, reading books, and taking naps - yeah right.
Considering the monster of a paragraph above, I've always wondered if it is realistic to try to make all of these facets of life 100% balanced, 100% of the time? Google says "balance is a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions." So to my understanding true balance means that none of those things listed above ever get neglected - not even a little bit - like not ever. Shout out to those who figured out how to achieve this. I can admit that I never did figure it out while in PT school and I am not sure I ever will. I am here to be completely honest about my weaknesses. Sleep often takes a back seat to many of the action items on my plate, followed by commitment to daily exercise, and reading my Bible daily. I try my best to cook every week but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Some days I pray for 30 minutes or more - other days I am whispering to myself "Jesus help me," as I am flying out of the door in the morning at 6:00 a.m.
One of the reasons I moved to Miami was in attempt to pursue balance and serenity in my life. In my mind, I was getting away from everything and everyone I knew so that I could start fresh again in a new city with new experiences. BREAKING NEWS: It didn't work. After living in Miami for a couple years with classmates, I knew that the answer to finding balance would be living by myself. So I packed up and moved into my own single bedroom apartment only to discover
that I would feel the most unbalanced I've ever been in years. I've learned that no matter how much you try to control your environment and your circumstances - sometimes the tables just turn. You might lose a loved one a week before school starts, or find yourself constantly butting heads with your significant other, or realize that you underestimated how much time you would need to study for that exam. The bottom-line is: life doesn't always go as planned. And more importantly, you may not always have the most ideal mental or emotional response to the unsuspecting chaos. How many times have you found yourself in a situation like this: It is 4:00 in the afternoon on a Sunday, you spent the entire morning at church and then made your weekly stop at the grocery store. You accidentally spent 2 hours talking with your significant other when it was only supposed to be 20 minutes. Before you know it, it is 8:00 p.m. and you haven't started the assignment that is due tomorrow night because you had no choice but to take a nap thanks to a random influx of high emotions from your earlier conversation and the latent Holy Hangover effect from church earlier that morning. Cooking for the week and working out are supposed to fit in somewhere before 10:00 p.m. so you can get 7 hours of sleep since you have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to beat traffic and make it on time to class in the morning. If this sounds like a variation of a daily occurrence in your life ,as it is for me, and you are banking on "balance" - you might as well try again on countless tomorrows.
Not too long ago I was watching a sermon series on YouTube called Grace Like a Flood by Pastor Michael Todd from Transformation Church. The third sermon in the series was titled "I Found my Anchor" (watch it here!), and what I received from that message inspired this blog post. Life is going to throw waves at you, guaranteed. But being anchored gives you freedom. The freedom to feel unbalanced, the freedom to cry for an hour if you need to, the freedom to talk with your fiancé until 1:00 a.m. to ensure you both
are on the same page, and the freedom to miss your Wednesday night workout and make it up with a bike ride on the weekend. It gives you the freedom to get less than an A+ on that assignment and not freak out. When you are anchored, no matter how your day goes, whether it was absolutely flawless or you stubbed your pinky toe first thing in the morning, you know that at the end of it all you'll recover and be right where you need to be. When you are anchored you are steadfast, your feet are firmly planted in the ground of purpose, and even if life throws a tsunami at you, you can be confident that the seas will calm and you will be OKAY.
So then, being anchored is CLEARLY the move - but to what or to whom is the question? Are you anchored in the idea of balance, financial security, maybe in your friends or relationships? Anchoring is only worthwhile if you're anchored to someone who is bigger than any and all circumstances that you might find yourself in. Because let's be honest, we all know balance in this life is a fail, money comes and goes, and the flaw of being human comes with its own inherent and guaranteed weaknesses. Truthfully, none of these options can anchor you the way God can - He is the only one big enough and strong enough to carry all the burdens of human kind and in exchange give us rest - aka peace - aka that sense of balance you've spent all this time searching for. If you're like me - stop fretting about never being able to maintain balance for more than 2.5 seconds. Find your anchor in Christ and just ride the waves.
