How I Learned to Re-frame the Idea of Balance

The constant quest to achieve what feels like an unattainable state.

Pick up a wellness magazine and you’re bound to find “Balance” in a headline:

Do You Have Trouble Finding Balance?

How to Find Balance in Your Chaotic Day

The Top 10 Secrets to Help you Feel More Balanced

Balance is important, and I think we have good intentions when we say we need more balance in our lives. But what does balance really mean? And why does it seem that we’re always searching for it but can’t quite get there?

I recently attended a yoga class where the instructor walked us through a balancing sequence. While in tree pose, some of us held the pose effortlessly, while others appeared to be holding on for dear life in the middle of a storm. And then the instructor said, “Don’t worry about falling out of your pose — balance is different each day.”

If, many of us love checking off an item on our never-ending to-do list, where does balance neatly fit in? If balance is new and different every single day, how do we know what to do?

On my own quest to better understand balance, I realized the question isn’t “how do I find balance?” But “what does balance mean for me…