Going Beyond Balance

Going Beyond Balance

by Linda Hawes Clever, MD

Here is a shocker: if you want to be effective, find fulfillment, and beat fatigue, balance is not your ticket.

WHAT?

Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing bad about balance. As a physician, I know how important balance is! Entire divisions, departments, and companies are devoted to it, too. Nonetheless, going for balance can be exhausting in itself, and has two huge disadvantages. One, achieving balance is way too hard. Two, balance just isn’t enough to sustain you over the long haul. Balance is necessary but not sufficient. How come?

Of course, you rely on physical balance when you change a ceiling light bulb or walk on a treadmill. From human developmental and repair perspectives, just see how hard it is to attain balance, however. It takes babies months to put hand to mouth and a year or more to take their triumphant first step. Think, too, of learning to skate or to ride a bicycle. Both sports keep bandage and splint manufacturers in business. Also, you have probably seen a stranger, friend or parent with a brain injury such as a stroke try to recover. Helping hands, grab bars, walkers, and canes may be called in to provide support before their triumphal first step toward finding equilibrium.

Even when you are good at a feat, losing your balance, especially at high speed, is a shock to your system. It is discombobulating and can cause severe physical trauma. The same thing happens when you lose your balance in your life. That is why you need more than balance to get healthy and stay healthy. You need anchors that endure because balance is a moment-to-moment matter. Those anchors, the elements that take you beyond balance, are your values. Your values are the very basis of your meaning and joy.

Just as achieving balance is difficult, balance is also temporary. In addition to mastering musculoskeletal skills, other kinds of balance can be fleeting. A friend pointed out that balance falsely implies anoptimum, that is, a best way. The trouble is, the definition ofbest is always changing, whether in sports or the stock market. Abalanced diet is almost a futile quest. You swerve among carbs, proteins, fats, spices, herbs, additives, supplements, vitamins, fiber and fillers without being able to grasp a firm sense of what is good or bad for you and your family, much less what isbalanced.. Advice changes at on-line speed. Finding a balanced diet can glaze your eyes, and especially if you, like me, love good cookies. Balance vanishes in the face of chocolate chips.

Going beyond mere balance, you want to be creative and productive.You want to feel good and have some fun. When you know your values, you find the strength and wisdom to go beyond balance and into a sturdy, robust, fatigue-free life. Why is that important? Because fatigue is so draining and discouraging for you, your family and friends, and your life’s work. That is why I wrote the book that was released in February, The Fatigue Prescription: Four Steps to Renewing Your Energy, Health, and Life (www.thefatigueprescription.com). The book sprang from the work and research I did with RENEW, the not-for-profit I began that helps busy, devoted people maintain or regain their energy, purpose, and joy. (www.renewnow.org). We have found that it is entirely possibly to refresh yourself and your outlook and to accomplish your dreams. Join the revolution!

by Linda Hawes Clever, MD Thanks!