Find Your Balance to Find Your Wings
Balance is critical in aviation. Flying a plane that has a center of gravity too far forward or aft invites trouble. You can stare at the outside of a plane all day long, but until you look inside to see the baggage it’s carrying, you won’t know if it’s balanced or not. Perhaps it’s loaded with heavy items that make the plane dangerous to fly unless the weight is shifted somehow.
Sometimes the danger comes from too much weight altogether, the plane loaded past the capacity it was designed to carry. As pilot-in-command of the aircraft, it’s my responsibility to consider and correct these factors before takeoff. If the plane’s balance and load are outside the tolerances, there’s a high risk the plane may crash with loss of life. I’m not willing to take that chance.
There are parallels to living here, especially to living your best life. You may not be an aviation pilot, but you’re the pilot-in-command of your life. Want your life to soar, realize similar challenges exist. To reach an ambitious goal or dream, life must be balanced and not weighed down with more than we’re designed to carry. Otherwise, we may crash and burn before reaching our destinations.
What throws our balance off in our lives? What weighs us down and keeps us grounded instead of soaring toward our dreams? Like a plane, we can’t always see imbalance by looking at the outside only. We must look inward instead. I’ve done my share of looking inward in pursuit of dreams and I’ve picked up some helpful tactics along the way. Here are a few discoveries:
Focus on What’s Important - This may be a no-brainer because you hear it often, but there’s a reason this message is universal. Focusing on what’s truly important in our lives is critical to maintaining internal balance. It’s not that most of us don’t know this truth, we simply need reminders. Like the adage says, “When you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s hard to remember your original goal was to drain the swamp.” We all have “alligators” to deal with in life. Stop to consult your inner compass often to remind yourself what’s truly important. The metaphorical alligators lose their bite when you do this often.
Travel Light - Practice reducing your attachment to material possessions. Are you pursuing dreams or stuff? Some may think acquiring vast material possessions is their dream. But I’ll argue what these individuals are really chasing is happiness. I’m not advocating an austere life unless that’s what makes you happy. What I am saying is, sometimes the acquisitions of material possessions are blocking our dreams and creating imbalance.
If you feel trapped in an unfulfilling job because you’re accustomed to a certain lifestyle, then every purchase you don’t truly need is another link in a chain binding you to that job. Some may read this as Don’t buy stuff. On the contrary… I believe it’s okay to buy things you can afford. But never become so attached to them you’re convinced you can’t live without them.
Jettison the (Mental) Baggage - Unlike traveling light, this has to do with mental clutter. There’s much worrying to be done in this world, just let someone else do it. Excessive worry creates imbalance. How many constantly worry we aren’t good enough, aren’t smart enough, aren’t creative enough?
Try doing these things instead:
1) Realize that worrying is more a habit than anything else. To reduce the habit, give yourself a time limit of five minutes to worry as much as you want. Then move on by changing what you have control over, and reassuring yourself that you are strong enough to handle whatever you can’t affect.
2) Stop comparing yourself to others. You are automatically at a disadvantage when you do this because you know all your flaws because you live with them daily. We’re guaranteed a distorted view because we see ourselves through the filter of our flaws, yet we give the benefit of the doubt to others, often thinking they have fewer imperfections.
Learn to Say No - Societal pressure can be difficult to resist. In aviation, pilots know chartered plane crashes happen too often because the passengers who paid for the flight pressure a pilot to do something he or she knows is risky like overload the plane or fly into ominous weather. The pilot should have said no but didn’t.
Remember you are pilot-in-command of your life. Only you know what’s best for you and how you should spend your time. Overcommitting to something beyond your capabilities or beyond the time you have to devote is stressful beyond belief. It’s also a surefire way to throw yourself off-balance. Learning to say no will prevent you from getting roped into situations you don’t want to be in, or save you from spending time with people that drain versus sustain you. Saying no more often gives you more time for what’s truly important.
Recognize the Trade-Offs - You can’t do it all. You have a limited time on earth to do what you came here to do. Some people complain about the lack of time to pursue their dreams, yet they still find time to watch television, surf the internet, or play videos games. I like those things myself, but over the last year, I’ve become acutely aware I’m making a trade-off when I do. I’m trading time I could invest toward my dreams for time spent on activities with no real return.
Before embracing this concept, I found myself in a perpetually unbalanced state, irritated for no apparent reason until I realized I was short-changing myself in the pursuit of my dreams. Don’t get fooled into believing this “leisure” time recharges your batteries. I’ve learned that replacing a majority of that wasted time with small steps and incremental activities toward reaching my goals and dreams, recharges my batteries more.
Spirituality - No post on life balance is complete without mention of spirituality. Again, only you know what’s right for you. However, I’ve known several people whose lives were unbalanced because they continued a religious affiliation just because their parents practiced it. If practicing the same religious beliefs your parents subscribed to fulfills and balances you, you know that’s the case. Stick with it. But deep down, if you know it’s not right, be brave and explore new spiritual ties.
Striving for balance not only smoothes the journey toward your dreams, it makes everything in life easier. If you’ve discovered your balance is off, make a goal to correct it and re-establish equilibrium. Your goals and dreams are too important not to.
