There is no such thing as balance.
What is Balance?
Balance is an intriguing concept. It was painted by someone who did not consider the ripples it sends through young minds. It’s this beautiful lie we all want to live. But here’s the kicker: grown-ups have life figured out to an extent, and they’re not letting us in on the secret. They are not telling us that balance is an illusion. You might not agree with me, but it’s an opinion post. Read on; you will see where I’m heading with my accusations.
Balance means an even distribution of weight, enabling someone or something to be upright and steady. Biologically, that makes perfect sense. We need to be balanced to stand and walk without swaying and tripping. Socially, it’s not supposed to be a concept.
“Just try and find the balance between medical school and your other interests; you will be fine.” That sentence is so terrible. How about a straight talk like, “Hey, girl, something’s going to take a hit – your grades or your hobbies.”
Perceived Expectations
Earlier on, I accused the grown-ups. In this concept a grown-up is basically anyone that has walked some paths in life which you are yet to thread. Most older adults encourage the young to make use of their twenties to get what they want.
They cheer us on to conquer dreams in our twenties – land the dream job, travel the globe, make money, marry young, and the list goes on. Sounds inspiring, right? Well, not when it turns into an overwhelming to-do list.
Trying to find a balance between all you have to do can be very stressful. It would help if you worked hard to get a good career and at the same time, you want to travel the world.
Take an instance where your job doesn’t allow you to travel the world, when you are at work and you see your friends achieving their 25 countries goal before the age of 25, you start to get anxious.
Am I not wasting my youth?
But remember, you initially followed your passion to pursue this career. If only they added the phrase “there is no balance,” anxiety wouldn’t even creep into your mind. You may even decide to study first, get your career, and travel later in life.
However, the Illusion of achieving balance at that young age allows you to crave a world you cannot attain without destroying your mental health.
If we zoom in to a university student level, we will realize that those folks also fight with the same Illusion. A medical student has a passion for writing, loves to read non-medical books as a hobby, has a business or a side hustle, loves politics, enjoys outreaches and giving back to the community, and remembers the ultimate, this person is a medical student. The best advice you can give such a diverse mind is, “Balance is a fairy tale.” Trying to juggle it all is a recipe for failure.
When the mind is opened to the fact that something has to be a lag, life becomes easier. Here is the hack: Acknowledge that some things will suffer at different points. During the academic phase, the medical student can dive into academics, politics, and writing during one stretch and let the rest chill. Come the non-academic phase, the other parts get the spotlight. No, it’s not a perfect plan, but at least it’s real. Moreover, such a person is now fully aware that there’s no balance. The only way to achieve balance is to live for only one thing.
And even those who live for only one thing never found a balance in life.
Breaking the Illusion
When someone comes to advise you and the person says to try and find a balance, whisper to yourself there’s no such thing as “a balance.” It doesn’t exist. Breaking out of this Illusion enables one to embrace imperfections and setbacks while forging ahead in this journey called life.
In conclusion, anyone who breaks out from the Illusion will begin to dedicate time to the things that matter.
Writing this article was from a place of rage and laughter. Honestly, the time I was using to write this article would have been used to cover some decent pages in my materials. But I’m aware that balance is an Illusion.
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