Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on February 16, 2007.
In a previous post, http://personaldiatribes.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/exercising-futility/, I discussed my long, impressive, journey from well-fit exercise maniac to lazy, out-of-shape slug.
The long and short of it is that other things got in the way. Some, if not all, of those things are good things. In general, we all have areas where we feel a lack of accomplishment, and perhaps we feel as if we simply cannot do the things we need to do because of other responsibilities. And then, there are things that we spend a lot of time doing, and are good things, but we feel as if it’s somehow wrong to even think about scaling them back.
For me, as I pointed out, exercise is clearly lacking. I can think of other things, too, where I would like to do more than I do. I may not be Beethoven or Mozart, but I am a musician and I write music. OK, so I have no huge aspirations for fame and fortune, but I have been working on a CD for, oh, about 8 years now. When completed, it will be a Contemporary Christian project. While not expecting it to go Platinum (maybe Gold, though), I would like to sell copies to whomever is interested in it, get it in local radio station hands, etc. Yet, I simply have not prioritized this. And don’t even get me started on the fact that I still have not completed my final actuarial exam.
On the flip side, it’s easy to see the lack of balance in your life when you are spending 18 hours a day watching TV. I’d even argue that if you go golfing a full 18 holes 4 times a week, you may have an issue with your priorities. But that may just be me. Less obvious are the things that are inherently good. Taking time out for prayer, volunteering at church, playing with the children, taking care of housework, being at work, etc.
Let’s look at an example (he says in an instructional tone, as if he knows what he’s talking about). Mrs. Goodness decides she is going to pray every morning before she starts anything else. That’s a good thing. Her child interrupts because he’s hungry (this never happens, but let’s pretend). She tells the child to practice patience and wait (of course, he does this immediately and without whining). Fifteen minutes later, she completes her prayer time and gets the child breakfast. Compare this to Mrs. Goodnesstimestwelve, who also wants to pray every day. 15 minutes into her 20-decade Rosary (which she is reciting backwards in Latin), her child is hungry. Two hours later, she finishes her prayers and gets the children breakfast, exasperated at the mess in the house and her lack of time to complete other household tasks (like laundry, maybe. Not that we ever have an issue with that in our house).
That may seem silly, but I’m not sure it is. Substitute that extreme example with people who cannot say no to a volunteer responsibility, who are running constantly and disrupting the home because of it, and you start to see that even good things can create a lack of balance. Putting your kids in every possible activity is a very popukar purveyor of frustration.
Of course, I am not suggesting these things all must (or should) go. But it’s easy to overestimate the time available to handle good things, and underestimate the time that should be spent on other things.
Let’s get back to my exercising lamentation. My wife and I went to a talk given by Father Corapi (a Catholic favorite) some time ago. He went as far as to say something along the lines of (paraphrasing): We know exercise is good for us. Science tells us that we need it to be healthy. We are a temple of the Holy Spirit. We have only been given one body. If you do not exercise and take care of your body, you may well be committing a serious sin.
What a downer. Sheesh. He even had to use the word “serious” in there.
Well, I don’t think the Catechism says that exactly, but I do understand his point. The Catechism doesn’t lay out a list of all potential sins, but arguing that point is like saying curse words isn’t a sin because the Catechism doesn’t list all the offensive words. His argument makes sense, unfortunately.
So, now suddenly, I need to take into account that exercise is NOT something that should fall by the wayside. For the love of Pete, it may even be sinful if I let it go. As if I wasn’t already feeling guilty about it! But in proper balance, I should be able to take away from other things – even good things – in order to take reasonable steps to maintain my health. Perhaps this demands a certain creativity, and you take a family walk together, or the kids can play downstairs in your company while you lift weights. Maybe not volunteering for every thing that comes up is better if it means you can actually spend some good old-fashioned time just playing a board game with the family. There is real value in those things.
It’s a constant struggle. The “balance reset” probably needs to occur multiple times a year.
Anyway, I think I’ve made my point. And I could go on, but the demand for balance in my life tells me that I have spent enough time for now on my blog. Now, I have to go home and prepare for an activity that Wendy volunteered me for. I haven’t quite figured out how that slots into the whole balance thing.
