Balance is about the yin and yang, the feminine and masculine, the flow of energy around you. Yet, many creatives might not consider the concept of balance in their lives. Many people live in black and white, swinging from one extreme to the other, always looking for a clear answer or solution so that they can move forward.

For instance, it felt normal for me to give 110% towards something, for weeks at a time. I would go through phases in my life - I stuck to my yoga routine, eating well, blogging and other commitments.

But when I found myself completely exhausted from this, I would retreat into a reclusive state of doing nothing for weeks. I'd become disconnected from everything else that was going on around me.

And then when I did realize I was feeling lonely, I went on to another extreme. Feeling I should never rely on friends, family or the external world to bring joy, I challenged myself to retreat from social outings and be alone.

I lived in this extreme state and punished myself with negative self-talk whenever I felt like wanting to connect with others. I told myself that surrounding myself with people was a distraction because I couldn't be completely happy with my own company. And that’s when it hit me. There is a balance to everything. 

In the case of loneliness - there are times where we, as human beings, would feel the need to connect with others. This is natural and it doesn’t mean that we’re not happy by ourselves. It’s about living a life fulfilled. 

Reflecting back, forcing away from spending time with people to prove a point was not the way to go about it. Once I recognized that this approach came from such an aggressive, forceful, controlling perspective, I felt a strong call to let it go. After all, being so controlling was not serving me.

Since then, I’ve been letting myself ease into my day with gentleness. With the acceptance that energetically, life will always be trying to establish a healthy balance. Sometimes, I need to ease into things at my own pace, to take my time and sit within my comfort zone. And there are other times where I need to feel energised, to push myself outside my comfort zone a little to experience something new.

When we look at things from a wider lens, we will come to understand that balance can also help us with decisions. Sometimes, we make decisions for ourselves that would lead to the best outcome at that moment. 

But, in balance, we also need to consider a bigger, more longer-term perspective as well. And also, there is accepting the balance between the head and the heart to get to a place where both exist harmoniously! Because ultimately, life is all about cultivating balance, and it can be applied to so many different things. We’re always in constant ebb and flow, push and pull, giving and receiving.

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If you have the tendency, like me, to live in the extreme - in the highs and the lows - why not take the time to come back a little from the extreme edges? Seek a gentler space to be in with our 10 Days of Journaling course. Sometimes, understanding how to have a routine filled with intention is exactly what we need to cultivate balance.