Delicate Balance

 

Finding balance amongst the insanity in a world that thrives on drama; it's a delicate balancing act, that many of us have yet to master.

We are branded from an early age to work hard, get a good job, stay in a job until you can retire, then retire and then what?! At that point, you are working with a limited income, quite possibly health issues, a body that fights against you, and younger generations that like to believe they know it all...about it all. So, then you are "phased out," and left barely treading water after everything you accomplished, learned and created. A recent conversation "enlightened" me and made me realize how wrong my own thinking has been.

While one area I continually preach about is slowing down, and enjoying life...this is just a small part of the overall equation. You see, in my own experiences the last several years...slowing down, or stopping all together, was a really stupid move! It ended up creating more issues, than those it solved. By stopping the activities I enjoy, by not working through health issues with protocols I knew to work; I created more issues for myself that are now taking much more effort to overcome. Some days, they seem insurmountable. That recent conversation, and a lot of previous conversations with others...have come to roost on my heart. While I still believe some areas, a large part, is now seeing a different side. One thing I have noticed, that some people are better able to communicate and comprehend than others. Fortunately, my conversation was with someone that was exceptional in his communication skills. His point of view made sense to me. He was able to verbalize things that held voids for me previously, or that I just couldn't understand from my age group. 

You see, my husband and I are pushing 50. That means we are drawing down on the side of raising kids, and to the point of pushing closer to that "retirement" age. I have said for years, everything should be in moderation...I just never expected those thoughts, to blow up in my face, as that is an accurate thought for every aspect of life. We have all lived relatively easy lives for the past 50 years. We did not live through the world wars, the great depression, Vietnam, Korea, or even the land grab of the 70's...although many of us were children in the 70's. While we may have grown up on the poor side, we weren't the children carting water from a stream or well, we have had indoor plumbing, electricity, and cars. Very few lived through not having shoes for their feet, or having no food to eat. Realistically, we have been very spoiled. We can go turn on thermostat to have heat or air, flip a switch for lights, have a machine to wash dishes, go to a store to purchase food and clothing, even if things weren't top of the line...we have had it easy. Even though we have believed that things are tough, I don't know if there are many alive today that could have survived 1929-1946. Those were the years of the Great Depression. It wasn't just a year or two. The depression didn't end until the end of world war2. You had households with 3-4 different families under one roof. There was not an option of anything different. No one was allowed to be lazy, or unproductive. Everyone worked, the women did the majority of the cooking, cleaning and raising of children. That's not sexist, it's fact. That is a topic for later. The men were out working the back breaking jobs, earning mere pennies just to get by. Children typically only had shoes for the winter months. The women would make the few clothes that everyone had. Not like today, when so many of us have more clothing than we could ever wear, not to mention so much stuff. People only had what was useful. Cooking was entirely different. The women had to keep the fires stoked all day, to be able to cook the evening meal. They cooked on cast iron. If you have ever used cast, you know that is not always the easiest way to cook. Anything that was left from meals, was added to the next, so there would not be any waste. The term "waste not, want not," is very ideal for this era. This also plays into my continued conversations about keeping your households prepared. I know so many give me grief about this, but I hold true to my beliefs. Allowing yourself to be readily self-reliant just makes sense to me. Think back to just 4 years ago with the toilet paper debacle. I heard so many people in panic over that. While I still think that was stupid, living an intended and prepared life, meant that I had what I needed. Yes, it was concerning to see the back up supplies start to dwindle, and the possibility of not being able to get it replaced was a concern...but it was not panic. The country going into a forced shut down, was concerning but not a panic for me. Realistically, it didn't change that much for me. For about 26 years, I have lived a life of self-reliance. That's the way my husband's family had always lived, and I was told very early on that that was how it was going to be. While I did battle this for awhile, I am beyond grateful to have learned as much as I did, from some incredible women! Now, as my adult children have moved out, I can only pray they take their own teachings to live an intended life too. However, I will not be changing my way of life. I will continue to stay prepared, continue to garden, preserve foods, learn holistic/herbal protocols,  and improve my own skills.

I guess, my thoughts here, are just proving how much we have become very wasteful. We are overruled by things and stuff. We have lost perspective on what really matters. Think about it: how many of these storage unit places are there? How many people have maxed out credit cards/have insurmountable debt, just to keep up with what "society" believes you should have? How many of us have house fulls of stuff, that collects dust? I am guilty along with so many others! I have gotten rid of more than 10 trash bags of clothes in just the last couple of years, and my closet is still full. The past couple of years, I have been eliminating a lot of stuff. Things that don't hold any value to me, things that don't serve a purpose, and am working on restructuring several areas of my own life. Personally, I am tired of cleaning around stuff, moving stuff around to ease the clutter, and holding on to stuff that no longer holds a purpose. It seems pointless to me to purchase stuff I don't need, to impress people I probably don't like, and have to deal with more clutter. 

It seems in finding a delicate balance in life, it falls into the exact realm of holistic medicine - mind, body and spirit. Finding other people that have your values, morals, beliefs; I call them your tribe. Is highly important. People are very judgemental. They will belittle every step forward you try to take, if it's not in line with their own view. They will judge you, no matter what you do. They will confront you, argue with you or do anything within their power to negate everything you are trying to achieve. That is just the current nature of society. When you don't just fall into the masses, you are any number of derogatory terms.  Embrace that! That means you are finding your way. Even if that means taking the road less traveled and making your own path. Not a single soul on this earth is perfect, no matter how many like to believe otherwise. We are each charged with our own paths in this life, and it's our jobs to figure out what that path is, and how to navigate it. We can have a tribe with us, but they can not do it for us. One more thought before I close this blog... You are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Are those people good, productive, wise and useful? If not, you are not giving yourself the opportunity to find your intended path. You will never grow beyond those you spend the most time with. So, choose your tribe wisely. You don't need people drilling holes in your boat, while you are trying to bucket out the water.