Balance: something we all seek but rarely posses. On episode 15 of Cross Choke we introduced a three part series all about finding and keeping balance. We started off with asking: "How balanced are you?"
There's a few different ways to self-evaluate the health of balance. We can look at how balanced we are physically (meaning nutrition, exercise and rest), mentally, and spiritually. Let's take a look at the physical side of balance.
Now, if you have a hard time lifting one foot to adjust your sock without falling over, no worries. We aren't talking about that kind of physical balance. The physical balance we're discussing is about health and nutrition, rest and recovery, weight-loss and exercise. Finding balance in this area often improves all other spheres in need of balance as well: mental and spiritual.
How can we find and keep our physical balance?
1. Take complete ownership.
John 5:2-6
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
A simple, yet compelling, question: "Do you want to get well?" Jesus presented a question we must all answer in order to grow and become healthier. Some may say: "Well, of course I want to get well!" But, it's not always that simple. If we want to get well why do we compromise so often our physical health for temporal satisfaction? Why do we stay up two hours later than we wanted in order to watch more TikTok? Why choose the cheese fries over the salad? Why shoot up with drugs? If health is what you want then choose it.
If you want to change, you will. It's as simple as that. It may be tough, but it is possible.
2. Plan Ahead
Ephesians 5:15
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.
The prepared are the least surprised. Meal planning, scheduled outlines, exercise routines, these are all keys to physical success. If you can prevent yourself from eating out of fast-food windows and instead dust off and rinse the old Tupperware containers in the cupboard and fill them with precooked meals your life will change in a very positive way.
3. Be Flexible
Proverbs 16:9
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
Not to contradict planning ahead, but actually to compliment it, planning for the unexpected is still planning ahead. Give yourself some wiggle room and try not to take yourself too seriously. Life will be full of disappointments if you do.
Allow for interruptions. Compliment your planning with free time. Don't be so strict that you weigh the scales by being "too" prepared and become off balance in the other direction.
4. It’s okay to rest
Matthew 11:28
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Someone reading this only needs to hear this: get some rest. Rest is so healthy and so often the first thing to go. Late nights and early morning can become so normal and such a statement of pride that rest becomes something as seen only for the weak and frail.
It's okay to take a nap or just do nothing. You will be more productive and cheerful after sufficient rest. Be good to yourself.
Takeaways: Take ownership. Plan ahead. Be flexible. Rest.