Hello lovely Steemians,
Well I’ve been fairly quiet on Steem the past few weeks – and those of you who know me would know that me being quiet is so out of the norm that you’d be forgiven for thinking Armegeddon is on the way!
Those that know me a little better in this community also know that I’ve had a lot going on in my “off-line” life right now and have had a fairly focused time of late, disconnecting from my technology and just being a bit more present in other areas.
And I think every now and then this isn’t such a bad things to do, just to reset and balance things up a bit.
And that’s really what it’s kind of all about. Finding that balance.
Personally I find myself a creature of extremes…
I’m either all or nothing…
I go all out to achieve the highest I can in career, or think, “It’s just a job, don’t get too stressed about it”
I want to be the party animal out having a non-stop good time – or else curl up on the lounge with a book, my TV and not see anyone for weeks on end.
I can’t be bothered to walk to the end of the driveway to collect the bins.. or I want to walk the entire 800kms of the Camino De Santiago de Compostela in Spain – in one go!
But how to find balance?
On the one hand – living in extremes often goes hand in hand with drastic mood changes which can leave you frustrated, exhausted and with feelings of failure.
On the other hand it can push you to achieve difficult goals. If I hadn’t been extreme in my desire to get fit I’d have never been able to complete a half marathon, or extreme obstacle course racing like Tough Mudder.
So that poses the questions – do we need some amount of extreme in our lives?
As kids we are taught that we should avoid extremes and choose the middle way which is “Just Right”. Anyone remember Goldilocks and the Three Bears?
And of course these days we hear ad nauseum about work-life balance - or the lack there of, as companies expect you to manage it yourself - while giving you unrealistic amounts of work to get through.
(PS A note here so as not to give the wrong impression - my current job is the best ever I have worked for in terms of W/L balance - they say it, live it and encourage it wholeheartedly - but I have worked for shockers regularly doing 80 hours a week plus up to 100 hours!)
I think the key to finding balance is actually about allowing those times at both ends of the extreme scale but always bringing it back to centre.
So the last couple of weeks or so have been spent coming up with strategies that are designed to help me find some degree of balance and a way to come back to centre. I think this goes a long way to helping cope with stressful situations and curve balls that life likes to through at us from time to time.
Some of these strategies have included working with my crystals and empowerment cards, meditating, using binaural beats for brain entrainment and using my aromatherapy oils.
A couple of weeks ago I joined an Essential Oil Bootcamp to refresh some knowledge I’d forgotten from an aromatherapy unit I’d done years ago during my Diploma of Energetic Healing. And I’ve been incorporating different oils in different ways into almost every aspect of my day, - roll ons, difusser blends, bath bombs, massage blends, car fresheners, sprays...the list goes on
(I know… I hear the irony of that even as I type – extreme use of oils in order to get balance from being... well… extreme)
Shelly Duncan
I’m sure at some point I’ll manage to share a few of these uses in future posts. I am – sadly – a little obsessed with making my own dishwashing tablets and rinse-aid at the moment and I’m pretty sure it’s too good not to share 😊 )
Anyway, thanks for the privilege of allowing me to share some of the random musings that get stuck in my head and just need an outlet.
Now that I've done some blogging, it’s family time.
After all… it’s all about the balance….
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