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I can hardly believe we are already at the end of our 7 week series, challenging you to go a little deeper this summer!
If you are new to the show, let me tell you that we typically have guests sharing their wisdom and best tips to help you grow in all 8 areas of life. The 8 areas are your faith, marriage, parenting, career, health, home, finances, and lastly friends/fun. Mixed into all that, you get me talking about balance, time management or something that God just laid on my heart to share with all of you. But since it’s summer time, we decided to do something different. We wanted to go a little deeper and give you some good work to do.
How has this challenge been for you? Did you complete all 7 weeks? Before you answer that, let me give you permission to say… not yet. All the content is waiting for you in the free bonus content and in your podcast player. Whenever you feel the urge to go a little deeper, remember that it is there. You don’t have to do all the weeks, but you just might want to.
Believe me, as I am looking over my long and deep to do list, I say this to myself, as much as I am saying it to you. You don’t have to do everything in front of you. You have a choice. Choose what you want to pick up and what you want to let go of.
And that, my friends is what this final week is about. Your choice.
Before we dive in, let me remind you where you can get your bonus content all together from all 7 weeks, packaged together nice and neat for you. You can grab it for free by going to YourLifeRocks.com, our Facebook page, or head on over to Instagram. To find me there, look up Your.Life.Rocks. Remember, the dots are important.
Now when we talk about balance being possible, I have to tell you, I believe that this is the case with every part of my soul. There are so many people that will tell you that it’s not. That it’s impossible. Can I tell you a secret? I love it when people say that. Why? Okay, so I didn’t always love it. It used to make me mad. But now, I see it as an invitation. An invitation to ask them to define what they mean by balance. And when they explain it, well they are right.
Usually when people think that balance is not possible, it’s because they have defined it in a way that is like a time clock or a score card where everything has to be even. Who says that’s what balance has to mean?
Why am I so adamant about this?
Okay, let me lay it all out for you. Being a working mom is hard. Like really hard. You are leaving your kids in daycare, with family, or if your kids are older like mine, you are leaving them to fend for themselves. All while you go to work and give it your all. Then you get to come home and be a homemaker, a wife, mom, housekeeper, chef, and try your hardest to do it all with small talk and ask questions to your family about their day and make connections with them. You wake up wanting to work out, grow in your faith, spend time with your friends, pursue a hobby, or just be. But time is limited. You only have so many hours before work, after work and on the weekends.
It’s a lot. And let’s not even get into the emotions, the self-talk, the judgement, all the things that happen between our ears as we process and over analyze and beat ourselves up.
As working moms we are doing the very best we can to hold it all together. Then to have someone say that, balance is not possible. Something has to give. You know what will give? Your honest to goodness effort to try. And it is a slippery slope when you start to lower the bar. It will keep getting lower and lower and lower until one day, you will look up and wonder… who is this person? This is not me.
It’s not about being perfect or proving something to someone. It’s not about being in denial or being a martyr. It’s about being the best version of you for those around you. It’s about leaning on God’s strength when you don’t have strength of your own.
It’s about choosing each and every day that, that day is worth it to give it your all and believing that yes, you can do this life. The life that God called you to. The life that God blessed you with.
Truth is, I don’t want to live in a world where working in my giftings is not compatible with loving my family and serving them. It really does not seem right.
Who says what balance is supposed to be? Let me tell you a secret, you get to decide. You can define what balance looks like for you. What it means and what it is. You can set your own bar and live toward that possibility.
Let me tell you how I define balance. I define it by making choices that intentionally align my actions with the goals I have set for every area of my life. I came up with this definition for myself out of what I was experiencing when my life was way out of balance. I was focused solely on goals for one area of my life. I might have made goals for other areas, but I didn’t work toward them. My actions were not reflecting my intentions or my goals.
Grab your notebook and begin to write out what a balanced life would look like for you. Not a perfect life, but a balanced life. Feel free to borrow my definition and give yourself to adjust it ’till it feels right. But whether you use my definition or your own, really journal it, explore it, and day dream a little.
Once you feel like you have exhausted the daydream, ready it back to yourself and see if you can summarize it to one sentence. Example: To me, life balance means that I am living with intention to reach goals in each area of my life.
Write this down, save it in your phone, put it where you are going to see it and check in with yourself on it.
Here is the thing, everything that we have talked about in this challenge over the last 7 weeks is all good. But what makes it great is when you actually do it. When you apply it to your life.
It’s a process. It’s not a one and done kind of thing. It will take time to go through it all and truly its about growth. Think of balance as a verb. Its something that you do, not a place to arrive to. Imagine standing on a beam or a curb in the parking lot with one foot. Balance is not when you are steady. When you are steady, you are standing on one foot. When you wobble and try not to fall, you are intentionally balancing yourself.
It takes effort, but it’s worth it to live fully as the amazing woman that God has called you to be.
Because when you go after balance in your life, when you define it for yourself and start to live into it, there is no better feeling in the world.
If you have listened to the show before, then you have likely heard me talk about the three pillars to balance. Regardless of how you define balance, there are three things that make it a reality.
Giving your life God. Like fully, not holding anything back. Truly living for him.
Following systems that help ease the burden and keep you focused.
All of these things are a part of the Life Balance system and our new Life Balance app. In the app you will experience a 20-week program that will walk you through focusing on God’s will for your life, building habits, learning to build on your habits to reach your goals in each area of life, and focusing on identifying the true things that will help you grow and for the things you learn to actually stick. Plus, it has the tools to keep everything together for you.
1. Your morning routine creator – to help you start the day with intention.
2. Sunday prep checklist – this houses everything you need to do to prep for the best week ahead. Plus, get motivational messages, reminders, and tips to build a life that rocks.
For the courses in the app, the whole Life Balance program is available easily at your fingertips with an assigned progression that will guide you through learning and applying these fundamentals in a way that is not overwhelming. If you can listen to this podcast, then you can do this program.
The goal is to help you create more days where you feel on top of the world. You know those days. The ones that you feel like everything is going your way, you have joy. You are productive, and just feel light. You know those kind of days? You can have more of them. And the best part, that goodness will flow over into your family, friends, and everyone you work with.
Your Life Rocks because You Rock and the Life Balance app will be your guide.
The app is launching this month! Search for the Life Balance app in the app store or go to Your Life Rocks.com for more details.
Next week we are back to the regular podcast, but with a slightly new format that I think you will be excited about. For the rest of this month, we will be joined by guests to help you become a better communicator. Communication is key for your career, your marriage, and really, every interaction that you have. It’s going to be a great series.
Until then, keep building a life that rocks!