Tag: balance

Do you find yourself feeling empty despite all the cookies, cakes, and fun of life?

Maybe you feel like a failure because baking cookies with the kids is annoying, shopping leads to debt guilt, and shame from that work party due to things said after one too many mimosas. The things that break up our day-to-day life that are meant to bring us fun, often bring their share of downsides with them.

We are constantly bombarded by quotes and lyrics telling us that our significant other should "be our other half," "complete us," and "be the macaroni to our cheese." These all sound good and romantic but what are they really saying? We take these sayings to heart and start believing that our husband should be our lover, best friend, colleague, and family all rolled into one.

How many of you have seen a friend disappear when they start dating someone new? How many of you can think of a time you have done this yourself? Who can admit to themselves its happening right now?

You have so much going on: between the job, the kids, your spouse’s concerns, the dentist (ouch), and even though you’re well aware keeping track of the family finances is your agreed upon responsibility you keep putting off balancing the household checkbook—and then WHAM! Thirteen bounced checks in a row... the fallout from your spouse is even more painful than the bank charges.

You’re feeling lonely and out of sorts. All this business travel is getting to you. You have a moment of what you prefer to call "weakness" and have a fling with a perfectly delightful man/woman. Out of town, who’s to know? Only the guilt is eating you up, and you can’t hardly look your spouse in the face.

When friends and family members are going through a rough time, often our immediate reaction is to try to resolve the situation for them. To ease their pain. To make life better. If a family or personal relationship with a friend isn't going the way we want, a common reaction is to cling harder, trying to convince the other person stick around. Unfortunately, when we try to manage the lives of others, we do both them and ourselves a disservice. In essence, we disempower them and interfere with their own opportunity to grow.

As hard as I work every day, shouldn’t I have “arrived” by now?

It’s a question that nags at you as you slog through each day, bound to the tyranny of your to-do list, one eye constantly on the clock. It seems all you do is work, but you have only mediocre results to show for it. Once, you had big goals and the confidence to achieve them, but now all you feel is tired, stressed, and overburdened. It seems the dreams you once had—of leading your department, being the top salesperson, joining the C-suite—have disappeared into the quicksand that has become your daily life.

Beginning around age 40 many women notice changes in their bodies that sound an alarm. You may be perplexed by creeping weight gain and stubborn belly fat. Perhaps you feel stiffer in the mornings and are becoming accustomed to living with little aches and pains in your joints. You may start looking for the elevator instead of taking the stairs.

Behind the scenes, all the systems of the body are indeed undergoing a subtle shift. As you approach pre-menopause, hormonal changes cause the metabolism to slow down. There is a steady decline in bone and muscle mass. You are at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. You may even experience a slight decrease in balance and cognitive function.

When we fall in love and meet that most amazing person for us, we feel as if we have finally come to a place where we can rest. It’s not easy to meet the right person to spend our lives with—and the search can be long, disappointing and hard. When it finally feels right, all of that disappointment is quickly erased and it feels as if it all had a purpose once we have met the one we want to settle down with. There is not a more beautiful feeling than this. What do we do then, we when we know we have met our perfect partner and over time it seems as if what we have is almost too good and things start to sour?