For years I thought balance was the golden answer. Everyone kept saying it — balance your work and personal life, balance your health and social life, balance everything. It sounded so neat, like if I figured it out I’d finally stop feeling overwhelmed.
So I tried. I filled planners, made schedules, even created routines down to the hour. Work from this time to that time, rest in between, make sure I eat well, exercise, meet friends, call family. On paper, it looked perfect. In reality, I was exhausted.
The strangest part? Even when I was “balanced,” I didn’t feel happy. I felt guilty. If I spent too much time working, I’d tell myself I was ignoring my health. If I took a break, I’d feel like I was falling behind. It was like no matter what I did, I was failing at balance.
When I Realized Balance is Not Real
One day it hit me: balance is not real. Life doesn’t move in neat little halves. Some days take everything out of you, some days give you space, and most days are messy. That’s how life actually works.
The turning point for me was when I stopped chasing balance and started paying attention to seasons. There are seasons where work needs me. Seasons where family needs me. Seasons where I need to just focus on myself and heal. And none of these seasons are wrong. They don’t have to look equal to be right.
Alignment Over Balance
Now instead of asking, “Am I balanced?” I ask, “Am I aligned?” Is what I’m doing today connected to the life I want tomorrow? Does it feel meaningful to me, even if it looks unbalanced from the outside? If the answer is yes, then I give myself permission to go all in.
I’ve realized balance is an endless chase, but alignment feels like freedom. When I look back at my life, I don’t want it to be a perfect scale. I want it to be a story of times I gave myself fully to what mattered most. That feels real to me. That feels enough.
