What do you think of when you read these three words?
• Your work-life balance?
• Are you off balance in your relationships
• Hormonal Imbalance: the menopausal among us will know exactly what I mean
• Changing your thought processes about things
In my last essay, I mentioned how I loathe resolutions and goal setting, but this got me thinking about how we chase the next set of life objectives.
For example, I've just hit a significant birthday, and I find myself still wanting.
Climb more mountains, complete long hikes, and learn new things.
What made me rethink goal setting?
Why is it that once we've achieved a target or goal or learned an important lesson, we are left with a feeling of melancholy mixed with elation and a sense of being deflated?
The very thing you try to achieve and then tick off as done can make you feel down afterwards.
It's a feeling I am familiar with - what's next, what do I need to accomplish next, is this as good as it gets?
Ask any notorious sportsman/woman at the pinnacle of their sport, and without a doubt, they experience euphoria followed by dysphoria.
We work best when working toward a goal, a project that keeps us motivated, focused, and enthusiastic.
Once done, there's the downtime, and this time can leave one feeling a bit lost, uncertain and empty.
But this bit is crucial for future development and growth and offers a reflection period to consider your achievements.
Evaluating life is a common thread in my writing because I want to understand the human psyche and why we feel and do what we do.
Over Christmas, I struggled with burnout.
My brain could not process anymore; I was tired and worn down and had to stop thinking literally.
The only way I could do this was to rest, walk and sleep while taking some mild sedatives.
My mind was like a washing machine, churning things around it, and it was exhausting.
And when I thought back to other Christmases, it has been very much the same: working so hard until Christmas until I hit a metaphorical brick wall.
My mind and body ceased to function.
Giving my brain a break during the first week of January helped.
I slid into work mode, easing myself in and gently reminding myself that I am now on the wrong side of my late fifties.
Being gentle with ourselves is vital to moving head-first through a new year.
So, I am doing things slowly and methodically, sticking to my time blocking rather than being this frenzied person travelling at full speed onto the next task.
Sometimes, you have to slow down to speed up, a paradox, yet true when I rush to get my shoes on and pack my bag, it all falls apart.
I slow down, and everything rhythmically falls into place, remarkable as it may seem.
With yoga, I have to tell myself to slow down and enjoy the experience rather than seeing it as just another chore to get done and ticked off.
The essence of yoga and meditation is slowness, yet I have to go hell for leather and need to remind myself to slow down, breathe and sink into the practice.
Slowing down allows you to become absorbed in whatever you're doing.
It allows you to disconnect from your busy life and move at your own pace, being mindful of what is around you, but it is hard as we are distracted by notifications and reminders.
If there's one thing I am learning as we earnestly march through January, that is to just be, to do my best as my best is good enough because it comes from me, and that is all I can ask of myself.
What about you?
PS I still hate goal setting and New Year resolutions!