Permission or Challenge: Where’s the Balance?

Recently, I posted about the 31 Day Blogging Challenge – actually, it was yesterday – and what a big shift it’s brought me.

As I step back to take in the larger picture, I see that if I push to meet the goal of one blog per day for the rest of the month, I probably could do it, but at what cost?

Other tasks, important tasks that I need to take care of, have gotten short shrift to make room for the writing and posting I’ve been doing. And I’m still slow at it. So, do I push into the wee hours to accomplish more and more while wearing myself down? Do I let tasks slide so that I can get enough sleep as they build up over time, creating more and more pressure?

Is there a third choice?

So, without abandoning the challenge, I am looking at the balance in my life.  Along with blogging, networking, planning, developing, meeting, and delivering… There’s self-care.

Self-care is the piece (and the peace) without which none of the rest can sustain. So, I’m slowing down and stepping back to make room for myself and find some balance. I’m giving myself permission to not do the challenge perfectly. And, if you read my previous post, you might notice some irony in that. (Hint: yesterday I was giving myself permission to not write perfectly.)

I’ve accomplished eight posts in eight days, actually nine counting today, by pushing other tasks aside and spending long hours into the night.

I don’t regret this. In fact, I’m satisfied to know I can do it. I also am satisfied to see that my ideas flow more easily when I write daily, rather than drying up after a few posts, which is what I thought would happen.

Another fear dispelled!

Ideas are not finite objects that get used up, they are sleepy stuff that wakes up with attention. And now that I really know that, I know that I can keep writing, challenge or no challenge.

So, I’m redefining this one-blog-post-per-day challenge as something for me rather than something I have to do.

I intend to keep writing. And, if I don’t manage to do it every single day, well, there’s that perfect imperfection that I’m getting to be friends with.

Self-care first! Without it, there’s no balance.

And, to the parts of me that say, “You’re pooping out”, “you’re making excuses,” “You’re preparing to quit,”…

I say, “I know you see things as all or nothing, black or white. And I’m here to tell you that I have already gained so much in one week of this challenge that even if I quit now, I’d be way ahead of the game. AND, I’m not quitting. I’m just remembering to be human with all the colors between black and white. So relax.”

Do you tend to push yourself without a break? Or do you give yourself permission to be human? How do YOU find balance in your life? Or, do you struggle to find balance? I’d love to hear from you.

© 2013 Naaz Hosseini. All Rights Reserved. Copying or resposting this content without written permission is strictly prohibited.

About the Author: Naaz Hosseini

Naaz Hosseini is a singer, dancer, psychotherapist, and voice empowerment coach. She developed Powerful Presence™ coaching to help corporate and entrepreneurial women step into their vocal power to command the attention and respect they deserve. As a NYS Licensed Psychoanalyst and Qualified Gestalt Therapist, she supervises and trains mental health counselors at Teachers College Columbia University and therapists at the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training. She served as visiting faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero Summer Institute for ten years where Howard Gardner has said, "With enthusiasm, I recommend Naaz Hosseini, a pioneer in using the voice and the body for understanding."