Learn How To Balance Yourself

by Russ Johnson

When you see or hear those three words you think of the movie Frozen and want to break out into song. I know I do. But, let it go has a different meaning in this case.

Life is fast-paced. At the beginning of the day, we get ready, we prepare ourselves 40 hours a week to fuel up in the mornings, and dive right into the rat race. Workwise we are thrown into caffeinated chaos. Go go go!!! Got to be on time, got to meet a deadline, or sometimes walk on eggshells because you have your boss looking over your shoulder. The same goes for students. Life surrounds us with constant pressure. But, it doesn’t stop there.

You get home, and you’re still in the rat race. All you did is get off the ramp and head to the house. What’s for dinner? Helping with homework, doing homework, sitting down with a mountain of bills, cleaning the house, organizing your schedule so you can fit in errands. Well, you get the picture. In fact, you’re probably starring in the sitcom, right? LOL!

So, to get your days started you had to put in the effort to energize and mentally reboot so you could face the world head-on. You are driven and you are willing to do whatever it takes to do a good job at work, provide for your family, and make sure that you have quality time with them as well. That’s a heck of a balancing act. So where does this leave us as we get ready for bed? Staring at the ceiling, worrying about tomorrow. And what do you do a couple of hours later? You get on social and post that you can’t sleep. Oh yes, guilty as charged, I already know because I was the same way. But then one day I made a choice. I learned to let it go.

It takes work to gear up for the day and maintain that pace throughout the week. Now we’re going to talk about putting that same effort into dialing it down, relaxing your mind and shedding that stress so you can have a peaceful night’s sleep. I spent years having a stare down with the ceiling. The sound of a fan used to help me when I was younger. But, as I got older and the stress got louder than the fan? It was time to go on Spotify. Normally my go-to for shopping. But this time I searched for audio. I looked at meditation audio and recordings of outdoor audio like the sound of a creek, rain or the waves crashing on a beach. As I closed my eyes to listen and focused on my breathing? I could feel my body start to relax. My worries were getting washed away by those waves on the beach. Little by little it became a nighttime ritual because letting it go at night was changing my life.

I woke up rested. Clearing my mind, resting my heart, and releasing the stress totally prepared me for the next day. Yes, there is still the hustle and bustle of life, but my life had a little more balance because I learned how to balance myself. Your car takes fuel, right? You have to stay fueled to get around and you have to perform proper maintenance to keep it running. The same goes for your mind and body. How you end your day is just as important as how you start it. A healthier you is a happier you. You WILL see positive results when you turn off the lights, dial it down and let it go. NEXT!