People always say there should be balance. Well, I say it plenty enough, but what does that even apply to?
Balance is mainly equality in the distribution of something. However, I think in life what is equal is not always obvious.
So obviously we need context before then striving for balance. For me it might be something like "people", trust me that is context enough.
Balance in the realm of people for me would be to speak to someone once a day in person, say 10 minutes I could handle. Online I speak at people which is different from listening and responding. Still tiring. So balance there would be to speak at a few and maybe have 1 conversation say 30 minutes.
That would have the effect of me not feeling caught up in things. It is not like anxiety, but more like a whirlwind when the balance is not in place, especially with things that require some more unregulated mental energy.
I say unregulated because I can get caught up in stuff then spend hours on it rambling away and then CRASH.
I think that is probably what a person needs to look at in general when you want to improve things. It is what makes you crash.
So maybe to try clarify, how I see the context to determine what is equal is based on the expected result. Since things in life don't go around being labeled by weight and all that jazz.
So equal outcome or ideal balance for my, let's say mental well-being when it comes to social engagement is to have less engagement.
I guess that is what makes it hard to find balance because many times it is not known what the outcome should look like.
Other times it is known but there are obstacles in the way.
For me that means, I work with walk-ins each day, so there goes my quota of 1 person... Heck, my social engagement quota is out the window by 10:30.
Then it becomes my social engagement war.
Possibly quality is another metric to consider. If I try do only 10 push-ups a day as my exercise it may feel okish but really won't have any effect other than be a mood lift and possibly little anti-atrophy.
Same with speaking to 100's of people in a day, it has no value. Unless I am speaking at them. Then they should listen the fuck up.
So I crash a lot harder, and it ripples, oh does it ripple.
I am using talking to people as an example but I am sure a person can identify the ripples and obstacles to having quality input to your balancing goals in many different areas.
Now I can't do anything about having to speak to people while at work so how an I might still take this uncontrolled variable and get a controlled result is simply by being aware of it.
With food for example I know exactly what foods make me feel ok and which don't. I guess obviously many do. That is the point, that awareness of an energy dip, or slight discomfort from eating too much.
Tomorrow, you adjust it, and you keep adjusting it, and again the day after you adjust it.
I think we are aware of possible issues long before we act on them, I tend to discount it to the "day" or "that inbred with a stupid face"...
With "balance" being so ingrained in our way of thinking or maybe I am just obsessing, regardless. I think no matter the goal, you can't balance the scales unless you really give and take.