I used to live a life of extremes.
It was either all or nothing. I was either gaming for 12 hours straight or completely abstaining. I was either binge eating until I felt sick or starving myself on a crash diet. There was no middle ground. Life felt like a chaotic storm where I was constantly being thrown from one side of the boat to the other. Balance seemed like a myth a nice idea for other people but completely out of reach for me.
Maybe you know that feeling. The constant pull between work and family. The struggle between rest and productivity. The desire for a healthy life and the comfort of old habits. It’s exhausting.
But I learned something crucial on my journey. Balance isn’t a destination you arrive at. It's not a perfect, static pose you hold forever. It's a constant, gentle dance. It's about making small adjustments every single day. It’s the art of learning when to lean in and when to lean back.
These quotes have been like guideposts for me. They've offered wisdom and perspective when I felt lost. I hope they can do the same for you.
The Myth of the Perfect Juggle
We often see "balance" as perfectly juggling a dozen glass balls. The perfect career the perfect family life the perfect body the perfect social life. If one ball drops we feel like a total failure. But that’s not balance. That’s a performance. Real balance is knowing which balls are glass and which are rubber.
- “Balance is not something you find. It’s something you create.” – Jana Kingsford
- “The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you’ve lost it.” – Anonymous
- “Life is a balance between holding on and letting go.” – Rumi
- “We can be sure that the greatest hope for maintaining equilibrium in the face of any situation rests within ourselves.” – Francis J. Braceland
- “Balance is a feeling derived from being whole and complete. It's a sense of harmony. It's a state of consciousness, and you have to create it.” – Becca Stevens
I spent years chasing perfection. I thought losing over 110 pounds meant I had to have a perfect diet forever. One “bad” meal felt like a catastrophe. But true progress came when I stopped chasing perfection and started seeking consistency. A healthy meal followed by a small treat wasn’t a failure. It was balance.
Finding Rhythm in Work and Rest
Our culture screams that we need to grind 24/7 to be successful. I bought into that lie for a long time. I’d try to force myself to work for eight hours straight only to burn out and waste the entire day on distractions. It was another cycle of all or nothing.
Then I discovered a different way. I started focusing on short bursts of deep focused work. Just 2 to 4 hours of intense concentration. The rest of the day wasn't for laziness. It was for other parts of life. For family for prayer for rest. The result? I get more meaningful work done now than I ever did in those long agonizing days.
- “The quieter you become the more you can hear.” – Ram Dass
- “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you.” – Anne Lamott
- “He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.” – Sun Tzu
- “Work rest and play are all important for a healthy and happy life. It’s a matter of finding the right balance.” – Catherine Pulsifer
- “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” – Dolly Parton
- "He who is greedy is always in want." – Horace
Rest isn’t a reward for hard work. It's part of the work itself. You can’t drive a car on an empty tank of gas. You can't live a full life on an empty spirit.
Nurturing Your Body and Soul
My old habits weren't just habits. They were symptoms of a deeper imbalance. Binge eating drinking smoking and endless gaming were ways I tried to fill a void. They were attempts to quiet the restlessness in my soul. I was feeding my body junk and starving my spirit.
Finding balance meant learning to nourish myself in a true sense. It meant trading harmful habits for healthy ones one small choice at a time. It meant understanding that what I do with my body affects my spirit and my relationship with God.
- “The part can never be well unless the whole is well.” – Plato
- “In all things moderation.” – Aristotle
- “A well-balanced person is one who finds both sides of an issue laughable.” – Herbert Prochnow
- “Moderation is a virtue but it's a virtue that can only be practiced by those who have the courage to fly against the winds of extremism.” – John W. Gardner
- “Health is a state of complete harmony of the body mind and spirit.” – B.K.S. Iyengar
- “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn
- “Everything in moderation including moderation.” – Oscar Wilde
It’s not about being extreme in your health either. It’s about making consistent wise choices. Choosing a walk over the couch. Choosing water over soda. Choosing a moment of gratitude over a moment of complaint. These small wins build on each other. They create momentum.
The Anchor of Faith in a Stormy Sea
For me the ultimate source of balance comes from something beyond myself. In the past I tried to be my own anchor. It never worked. I was always tossed around by my emotions circumstances and failures.
Strengthening my Christian Orthodox faith has been the single most important part of finding true balance. It’s not just a set of rules or a Sunday activity. It's a relationship with God that gives my life a true center a firm foundation. When the storms of life hit and they always do my faith is the anchor that holds me steady.
- “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” – Rabindranath Tagore
- “My peace is not in the absence of struggle but in the presence of God.” – Anonymous
- “Let God's promises shine on your problems.” – Corrie ten Boom
- “When you are in the final days of your life what will you want? Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? No. You will want to be surrounded by people you love.” – Max Lucado
- “The stability we cannot find in ourselves we can find in God.” – St. Augustine of Hippo
- “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.” – St. Augustine of Hippo
This kind of balance isn't about perfectly dividing your time between "God time" and "life time." It's about inviting God into all of your time. It’s finding purpose in your work through Him. It’s seeing His blessings in your family. It’s turning to Him in prayer not just in crisis but in moments of joy and gratitude.
Balance is a journey not a final exam. You will stumble. You will have days where everything feels off. That’s okay. That’s human. The goal is to just gently guide yourself back to center again and again.
So let me ask you: What is one small adjustment you can make today to bring a little more balance into your life?
