I, for one, do not believe in the concept of balance.
I'm not a person who lives my life in balance. I'm an artist (from my spirit up), and so I immerse myself in whatever project (or personal passion) I am in love with at the time. I become obsessed.. . . .like the artist who can't put down the paint brush. . . .or the writer who writes through all hours of the night because there is something that needs to be said and there is no sleep to be found until its peace has been spoken.
Passion throws the whole idea of balace right out the window.
It's the things that we feel passionate about that force us to choose something (or someone) when all sense of logic and reason says to slow down. . . . or plan things out better. . . .or do it in a safer more financially secure way. It's also the things that we feel passionate about that bring the greatest joy (and pain, unfortunately).
But there is absolutely nothing balanced about living a life based on passion. . . .and falling in love is absolutely the key to passion.
I am not good with long-term plans. I have no patience for long term plans, because I immerse myself from head to toe in what I fall in love with. . . .and there is no patience to be found when the need to be immerse can not be silenced. And so I reorder my whole life around what I have fallen in love with. Like I did when I went into the Army. Or when I got married. Or when I bought my boat. Or when I fell in love with the idea of living in Nova Scotia. Or when I fell in love with the Grand Canyon. What I fall in love with, I become obsessed with, and reorder my whole life around in order to dance completely with it. And when I can't dance completely with it, I fight against whatever keeps me at a distance. . . .until I drop with exhaustion. . . .or until I fall in love with something else that infuses me again with the passion and purpose I have lost.
My way of living is not for everyone. . . .but other people's way of life is also not for me.
The wonderful part of flying solo is that I can live my passion without having to coordinate that dance with another person. . . .and so I am free to reorder my whole life again to pursue this next passion that I am about to immerse myself into and become obsessed with. I don't know why I am the way that I am. . . .I only know that I am. . . and that falling in love with a whole new possibility and potential for my life is absolutely enough for me.
Follow your bliss.
I remember one of my professors from when I was in grad school who tried to show me the error of my ways by relating my life to an onion. The way that he perceived the way I live my life was to live only in the outer layers, because to him I wasn't committing to anything long enough to understand its depth, or deeper layers. But what he didn't understand is that I am committed. . . .I'm just committed to the internal passions of my soul, rather than to the purpose assigned to more external worldly pursuits. So when I fall in love with something (and allow myself to follow my passion), I am absolutely making a commitment to the depth of my spirit. . . .and making a commitment to the purpose infused within the gift of God that creates me.
And what I find most incredibly curious about the world at large that surrounds me, is that the people who are inspired when they are reminded of the words carpe diem, are very often the exact same people who become harshly judgmental and obtrusive with their dream squashing negativity when they actually see someone seizing their own day. So the way I live my life may seem curious and strange to others who look upon my choices. . . .and I may actually be making the worst mistake of my life by quitting this minimum wage job without having another job already lined up. . . .but if I can live with these choices that I make, then that is enough for me. . .