Balanced.

In my current state of life, the common theme has been balance.

Balance at work.
Balance at home.
Balance with friends.
Balance with activities.
Balance with diet.
Balance with fitness.

I am out of balance.
I've taken on too much. I've given too much to certain people. I've not done enough.
I am out of balance.

And I was thinking about that. I was thinking about how overwhelmed I am. I was thinking that the teeter-tatter was very one sided. And it depended on the subject to what side was up and what side was down.

Then the most miraculous thing happened. I finally had a breakthrough to let the recovery begin.

I was at yoga one Monday night and my instructor (and good friend, little Miss Anna!) ended our practice by saying -- What can you take away from this practice of balance that you can move into your every day life? (Or something to that affect, I don't remember verbatim).
And it got me thinking, in yoga, to stay balanced, you have to use all your muscles.
My favorite right now (and the one pose I'm working towards mastering) is crow pose.

In crow pose, you balance on your arms. But if you use only your arms, you fall over.
You have to have the proper eye alignment, you have to hold your abs, you have to engage your legs, back, and even feet. Or, you fall over.

In my life, I wasn't using balance. I wasn't engaging all parts of my life to move from day to day.
I was thinking:
Monday, yoga.
Tuesday, date night.
Wednesday, Verve.
Thursday, Connect.
Friday, clean up my house.
Saturday, editing, bills, scheduling.
Sunday, sleep.
And that's just the extra things. And all these extra things come with their own set of responsibilities, planning, and action. And when I tried to divide each one into it's own certain day, I fell over.

Then, that one precious night at yoga got me thinking about how I can use the different parts of my life to work together. To feed off of each other. How can my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday set me up for a great second half of the week? How can my Saturday, Sunday, set me up for a fruitful Monday?

First, I think that comes from delegation. Delegating certain tasks to certain people. Not trying to do it all by myself. That's why I'm on TEAMS, because other people want to help, and are capable of helping. I need to be able to look at something and see it for what it is. Not get attached, not get emotional about it. Other people can help. And I need to have faith in them.
Second, I think it comes from letting out what needs to be said. I do a good job of talking, but I also do a great job of bottling things up. I let is swirl around in my head until the "perfect time" before I say it. And, SURPRISE, there is no perfect time. So it never gets said. And I just think about it. I just let it eat away at me. And it makes me more emotional, and more resentful, and I tend to eat a lot more and sleep a lot less.
Thirdly, I think I need to go with the flow. I need to be able to say yes when it's good and no when it's not. If someone asks to go out and have fun, I need to not immediately turn to my calendar to see if I have the time. I need to just go do it. And enjoy life. But I also need to know that I can't stay out til midnight every day and expect to be worth anything at work. I need to know that I can say yes, I'll do something every evening during the week and think I can cram all of my personal stuff into the weekend, when I'm so tired all I want to do is relax.
Lastly, I need to be aware of what will benefit me and what will harm me. Emotional eating = hurt. Cake pops at the department meeting = beneficial. Losing sleep to workout = hurt. Running by the lake = beneficial. This last one is especially true in my food and exercise world. Because I'm very much an emotional eater and very much a lazy person. I need to find the balance between making my body feel good and just stuffing it full of hamburgers and beer.

I'm in no way perfect at this. As a matter of fact, I'd say I'm making about 5% headway on these action plans. But I have created such a hole that 5% is really good.

5% means I'm so much farther from where I started.
5% means I've started.

Where can you find more balance in your life?
How can you learn to use all your muscles in your life?

I'm sure everyone has a different answer.
But I'm going to try to improve on these four things this summer.

<3XOT

Follow Your Passions

I've really been thinking about what my passions are lately.

Like, the ice breaker question when someone asks me what my hobbies are.
My normal answer is work. Because I really like what I do.
But then they ask "No, like in your free time."
And then I make up something like swimming or running or cooking or baking.
Which I like to do, but never really thought that it was a hobby.

But lately I've been thinking. And I think that to have a hobby, you must be passionate about it.
So maybe all those years I was just thinking I had no hobbies, but I just had some passions.

Although some things changed a little, I would say my passions are relatively the same and I've been so privileged to get to put those to work. My passions are:
1. Media
2. High Schoolers
3. Cooking
4. Outdoors

Christine, Me, Emma - making VerveCreative grow <3

I've only lived in Minnesota for 18 months. Can you believe that? It's felt like a lifetime.
But I've been able to connect and get involved with my church and other people and create lasting relationships. Through that, I've been able to LIVE MY PASSIONS.

In this fast-paced world, that's so hard for so many people to do. They always say "I want to do this…" or "I wish I had time for that…" But, I just decided that I was going to go all in and do it. And the results have been fantastic.

This past weekend, I got to go up for a day and and play with the Verve Youth Group, as they experienced God mixed with fun. Not only did I get to go down a snow tube for the first time (and walk up the giant hill), but I got to take cameras with me. Outside, I mostly did GoPro work, but inside, I got to grab the 5D and shoot away. Even though I was dead tired, it was an experience that brightened my whole day.

On top of that, every other Thursday, I meet with a Connect Group and we talk about the sermon from the previous week at church. It's so awesome to see what kind of people come together and the conversations are endless. (Literally, we force ourselves to separate at 11pm…) That fills me so much, but I also get to cook for these people every week.
And if you know me at all, I love being able to feed people. I regularly say "I wish I could feed the world." And I'm working on that.

Among so many other things…dinners with friends, coffee with friends, running around the lakes, laying out by the lakes, visiting different places with people…I've been able to fuel my passions and really thrive in this city.

I have an endless list of people who I'm thankful for making this happen (#1 is my mom) and it's so encouraging to get to be part of these groups and do what I love every week, and every day for that matter.

If you feel stuck or you're struggling to find where you belong, I dare you to follow your passions…and maybe turn them into hobbies…find time for what YOU want to do and what makes YOU happy. I promise you great things will come of it. Great people will come of it. And you will be able to look back and say that you tried.

<3XOT