Balance

I constantly struggle to find balance in my life. I often feel pulled in fifteen different directions all warranting my time and energy at once. When I place my focus on one area, I feel guilty that I'm not doing something else.

I was sharing my struggle with a friend the other day and she told me about her Dad's boat. She said that there is a mechanism on his boat called a 'trim tab'. If there is ever imbalance in the weight distribution of the boat, you can push a button and weight will be distributed to the opposite side to create balance that will keep the boat afloat. She explained that it was a slow, careful process to determine what is the proper weight distribution for the boat to be perfectly balanced.

I have considered carefully since then the balance of my own boat. I think I'm carrying a lot of unnecessary weight around on my boat. I've thought about what items in my boat simply need to be jettisoned. Sometimes I allow others to place things on my boat without permission and then spend the day working to adjust my trim tab to compensate for it. Sometimes I place unneeded weight on my own boat, not realizing the time and energy it will require to have it there. Other times I place undue importance on things, making them heavier than they need to be. I also realized the imbalance created when I try to carry loads that are designed to be carried well by other boats. You see, it dawned on me that no two boats are alike. We are all designed differently to carry different loads, chart different courses through life and accomplish different things. I need to stop looking at any other boats in comparison, and simply focus on balancing my own.

It's a constant readjustment, working that trim tab. Seeking balance, day by day.

Ship ahoy!