Balance

Balance comes from within. 

Well, everyone says balance is the key to an ideal, successful and happy life. But what is that balance? How do we achieve it?

We have problems, jobs, commitments, bills, relationships, and responsibilities more than any of our past generations ever had.

First, we have to acknowledge that we have a problem. Identifying the problem is the first step to solving it and achieving a balanced life.

Life itself is fun. Whenever you forget that, you start to feel down and depressed.

Believe me, this pure moment of clarity came to me when I was at my lowest: lost, with too many issues around work, money, family, friends, living in a country where I literally had no one close to me. Nothing seemed like it would get better anytime soon. I had problems none of you could ever imagine. I was in complete chaos.

Then, it came

a moment of peace.

I chose to clearly identify my own options: what I could personally do. I also identified my problems, my weaknesses, and the paths that could be good for me.

I realised the divine truth about balance:
It’s separation.
Yes, it is.

I was in a moment where everything felt chaotic and out of my hands. 

Everything was hard and complicated.

But I chose to feel good even though nothing was going well for me, and for no reason at all.

I started writing everything.

I do this often.

I write tasks, scratch plans, diagrams, mind notes in my perfect doctor’s handwriting.

I was in full flow. I wrote down everything and started categorising it into three types: 

Urgent, 

Important, 

and “Forget it.”

Then I tagged each with four outcomes: 

Life, 

Work, 

Connections, 

and Future.

Future means accepting hard choices and eliminating short term wins.

I chose to make decisions for the upcoming years not just months or seasons something most people avoid.

Once I had my problems identified, categorised, and sorted, I felt peace coming in like a cold breeze hitting my body… oh, sorry, that was just the air conditioner.

Separation is the real key to happiness and success in life. 

Think of your life like your job: once you leave work, you leave all unfinished tasks for the next day, knowing you’ll come back to them.

As Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations: “Everything that happens is outside of me. I am the observer. I allow nothing to get into my head and disturb me.”

The biggest cause of depression might be this: we let one event roll into our entire life like a liquid, stinky, green, viscous jelly monster melting over everything, holding us in place, making us feel helpless.

So, separate your life’s domains as much as you can.

Work has nothing to do with your personal life.

No matter how bad your workday was, you will still sleep in your own bed unless you got into a car accident or ended up somewhere entirely unexpected, in which case, enjoy your new bed.

If you bring a piece of that jelly monster home, your house will stink for no reason. And if you carry your home’s toxic mess into work or social situations, you will stink those places up too. If you have been doing this for years, you have already melted everything, everywhere, all at once and drowned in the depression abyss.

So, darling:
Clean your liquid, stinky, green, viscous jelly monster.
Eliminate the people and situations that make it melt even faster.

Start with:

• Identify
• Separate
• Order
• Achieve ✓

Conclusion: 

Balance comes from within.

This method has worked for me every time I felt lost or down.

Observing your problems as if they exist outside of you will relieve your burden.

Balance is the key.
Separate your life’s tasks.
Distribute them according to your power, capabilities, and abilities.

And your will have the life you deserves,  the one you worked for and dreamed of for years.