A Balanced Life or a Balancing Act 

by Chris Carling

The idea of 'achieving balance' and 'living a more balanced life' is very much in the air these days. In my work as a coach, I encourage it - one of the areas coaches often work on with clients is the balance between their professional and personal life. Even governments have been getting in on the act with various work/life balance initiatives and encouragement to employers to consider more flexible working patterns. Hidden in all this striving for balance, however, is an assumption that we know what balance is, that we are clear what we are trying to balance.

What is out of balance? What I've found, however, both for myself and in working with coaching clients, is that what we are trying to balance can be very different from one person to another. My own balancing act, for example, isn't between work and personal life but between time that's booked, filled with appointments and obligations, and time that's unspoken-for, time I can use as I please. For me to feel a sense of balance I need big spaces in my diary. If I feel under pressure to squeeze in more than I'm comfortable with, I become uneasy. There are others, I know, who relish having a full diary. For them, the balance that needs adjusting may be, for instance, between activities that feel fulfilling and those, like never-ending paperwork, that bring little satisfaction. 

What's out of balance may not even be about areas of life such as home and work. For many people the imbalance in their lives is between what they want to do and what they feel they ought to be doing, or perhaps what others want them to do. Balancing that equation can be a real challenge, and one that we may never fully resolve. 

Perhaps rather than seeing balance as a destination we reach once and for all, we should see ourselves as engaged in an ongoing process. First we identify what's out of balance, then we make adjustments to improve the balance. These may work for a while but then need re-evaluating and readjusting. Not balance so much as a balancing act, and one that goes on throughout our lives. 

About the Author

Chris Carling
Cambridge, Cambs
United Kingdon
chris@chriscoach.com
http://www.chriscoach.com

Chris is a communication expert, mediator and ICF accredited Professional Certified Coach. She is co-author of 2 books on communication and scriptwriter of award-winning videos. To subscribe to her coaching ezine, visit her website at www.chriscoach.com

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