Come one, come all to the greatest show on Earth! Where we demonstrate daily the struggle of finding balance.
A balancing act of epic proportions.
However, it doesn’t start that way… it’s always slowly, it always starts easily, to lull us into a false sense of accomplishment.
Me/ You/ The individual:
We’re like the talented circus star.
Then…. A Spouse or significant other is introduced:
As if we’re given 1 ball to begin our act with. Initially, it doesn’t seem all that difficult to “juggle” 1 singular ball, I mean really?! However, as we begin throwing the ball in the air we discover that the ball is a bit heavier than we anticipated, and it’s made of a strange material that can shift in the air as it’s thrown. One must actually be attentive or the ball will be dropped. Some of us begin resenting the weight and malleable nature of the ball and we resent starting our act to begin with. Some of us get more caught up with the people watching the show than with our ability to even figure out how to work with this 1 ball.
But then… life adds a 2nd ball, perhaps shaped like a child.
Now your act is a bit more complicated, 2 balls both heavier than what was originally expected, both are varying in weight and both are supple in nature. This flexibility requires concentration and determination to maintain a rhythm of catching and throwing because it can easily shift and fall, even when you think it’s in your grasp. Our talented performer may be tired at this point of the act but is determined to see it through and here, we begin to find where the illusion of balance is demonstrated.
An audience member, at this point in the act, may not fully understand the challenges that the performer is encountering. From the cheap seats, it looks like 2 balls being thrown and caught. The perception is that this is no big deal, we, the audience are so quick to make judgements. The only person aware of the intricate challenges is the performer.
And then the act gets complicated, a 3rd ball.
Just when our performer thinks they have their act ready for another ball to juggle, panic ensues when they get what they asked for. Questions of doubt plague our performer, “was it too soon”, “what was I thinking”, “I should’ve quit” … all of these race around the performers mind at a relentless pace. These doubts and the actual juggling now require a level of mental fortitude that our performer may have not planned for. A test of endurance and stamina that may challenge the performer to their core.
The thing with a performance is, the performer knows how difficult it is to successfully complete their act. The audience on the other hand, always has a larger-than-life expectation for the performer and may discount the achievements or effort the performer is putting into their act. It’s so very sad when the performer starts to focus more on the audience. That’s when they loose site of what it is that they are juggling.
Life will continue to add balls, knives, bowling pins to our juggling act. As a performer, it’s exhausting: To juggle all the time, without a break, and to always be scared of dropping one or even all of it. Don’t be scared to ask for help. You may have misconstrued a tool sent your way to help you as something you needed to juggle.
Now, as a spectator, we need to ease up. It’s always easy to boo from the cheap seats or make quips about how the performer is struggling. Please stop. You may not know the weight of what they’ve been given and your commentary reflects worse on you than on the performer.
Life is all about balance.
We’re all challenged with so many things on a daily basis and we neglect to prioritize. Or we put importance on the sillier things that hold absolutely no value, such as our audiences’ comments or lack of applause.
We are all both a performer and an audience member. We both juggle what life has given us and observe others do the same. Think of what a magnificent performance it would be if we all helped out our fellow performers once in a while. Specially, if you think they’re about to drop something.
Help them… restore balance to the force. (Sorry, I had to) For real… balance people. BALANCE.