When Doing It All Goes Wrong: 5 Life Balance Tips to Get Back on Track

When Trying to Do It All Goes All Wrong




I have often wondered if there was such a thing as feeling too good and I may have found the answer recently. February was a good month. I was on a roll. I was coming off a tough time and started feeling like I was getting my groove back. Things were beginning to fall back in place and feel manageable again. So I decided to refocus on my health because I had slacked off a bit. In comes this 14-day health challenge that I felt good about. It seemed that I should be able to participate in it fairly easily. I think my feeling good about everything else fooled me into thinking I could handle this 14-day health challenge along with everything else. I really thought I could do it all with no regard to how I was going to balance it all. As I got to the second day of the challenge, I realized that I took for granted the time it would take to devote to doing it. 


The challenge required that I change my eating habits which was doable if I prepared but it also required that I get 15,000 steps in daily. I quickly amended that to 10-15 because there was no way. I also had to squeeze in some basic strength exercises. Here’s the thing. It really seemed reasonable on paper but when I attempted to fit it into my life, not so much. 


I did the classic thing that I have warned people against doing but it was a feel-good recovery mode so I overlooked this pitfall and went in full steam ahead. I introduced something new into my life without accounting for how I was going to manage it while still trying to maintain healthy stress levels. Trying to keep up with all the things was a challenge and in that, I did not account for me time, rest time, or reset time. And because I did not make room for these things, life was thrown out of balance. 


The quote “Life is a balance between holding out and letting go” is one of my favorite quotes by Rumi because it is so on point. When I think about how things got so out of wack so quickly and put it against this quote, I see that’s exactly what I’ve been doing wrong. Fighting for my life, holding on to the way that I thought was right. We sometimes do that thinking we are on the right track and it falls flat because we end up hurting ourselves. 


Here are five simple tips that I hope will help with the balancing act of life because we really all need a little grace and grounding sometimes.


  • Start your day off with Intention- Reflect on your day and what you want out of it. Set a positive tone. Breathe and relax. 

  • Focus on one thing at a time- multitasking is not real. Give the one thing your full attention. Presence = Peace

  • Protect your “no”- No is a full sentence. You don’t have to do everything for everybody. Boundaries are important.

  • Schedule your joy like it’s an appointment. Whether it’s a walk, a dance break, or watching a show, block out time for things that make you feel good. Don’t treat yourself as a side project. 

  • Rest before you are exhausted. Do not wait until you are about to drop because then it is too late. 

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