THE BRAVELY BALANCED BLOG
For the overachiever and the overworked!
How exhausted are you? I know the feeling!
Does being exhausted serve you? What if I told you that you could have it all without subjecting yourself to hustle culture?
Sounds divine, doesn’t it? Follow along and feel the ease!
Category
- Anger and Depression
- Anxiety Stress & Fear
- Balance
- Burning the candle
- Burnout
- Change
- Dealing with Urgency
- Doubt
- Drive
- Emotional awareness
- Empowerment and Living
- Epigenetics
- Expectation
- Healing
- Hope
- Introversion
- Leadership
- Personal Boundaries
- Personal Strengths
- Resilience
- Self-reliance
- Shame
- Trauma
- Victim Mentality
- Vulnerability
- Worry
- avoiding conflict
- balance
- being alone
- conflict resolution
- connection
- decluttering
- duty and guilt
- emotional eating
- empathy
- energy
- feeling stuck
- happiness
- imposter syndrome
- intentions
- justice
- mindfulness
- overeating
- perfection
- perfectionism
- procrastination
- regret
- resolotions
- self-awareness
- success and failure
Changing My Attitude Changed Everything
All of us encounter times when we are torn between two actions.
Here’s a fairly common one for me:
I had a real problem: …
Rooting for the Strugglers: A Guide to Believing in Your Own Success
I read a blog by Seth Godin recently that contrasted what we believe about ourselves and good or bad outcomes. Some believe they’re smart and savvy because they got lucky. Others believe they’re lacking in some major way because they haven’t yet succeeded in what they’re trying to do.
This blog is about that second group, …
The Quiet Message of an Overloaded Space
I read the quote below online recently, and resonated with it. When I’m busy, I’ll occasionally stop and take a good look around my office. If there’s any place other than my chair to sit, that means things are pretty good. It means that I’m addressing what I need to address, bit by bit. Piles of stuff are slowly disappearing from all the surfaces.
Those piles of stuff represent …
When You Doubt Yourself More Than Others
I was with a friend today who complained about her tendency to give others the benefit of the doubt over herself. What happens with her over and over is when she does that, she almost always regrets it, realizing too late that she would have been better off to go with what she, herself, had thought.
Even though she knows this,…
The Gift of Giving Others the Benefit of the Doubt
I listened to a podcast today that was a fruitful dialogue between 2 people of radically different views. I felt that both of these people were earnest in their desire to build bridges. However, …
Why Energy Matters More Than Effort
Today, I feel energy-less. Today, I’m dealing with a chronic illness that has sapped me of my energy. I am envying anyone I see who has any at all.
About 10 or 15 years ago, I had a debilitating illness that would bring me down with very little warning. In those days, I really believed I could “push through” any situation…
Living Happiness Instead of Searching for It
As a counsellor, I often hear comments or complaints about not feeling satisfied, or happy. That’s a big reason people see counsellors. I remember complaining about the same thing when I was younger, …
From Autopilot to Awareness: The Power of Noticing
When I find myself watching another food video, when I end up reading a novel till 2am, when I eat so much at Thanksgiving I hurt … it isn’t that any of these are bad things to do (except for the overeating at Thanksgiving, but safe to say few of us haven’t been there), it’s that I find myself doing them automatically, unaware of it until I’ve been doing them for some time. …
How Risk-Taking Changed When I Stopped Overcommitting
What I want to talk about today is risky for me. It’s about going too far, something I am intimately familiar with.
What I mean by this is: the usual way I tend to overcommit is to …
When Duty Becomes A Distraction
A friend of mine has been riddled with guilt over several things – he doesn’t want to do them but feels duty-bound to do so. It’s so distracting that he’s finding he isn’t getting his job done or anything else.
I’ve done many things …
Why Some Decisions Feel So Hard (Even When They Shouldn’t)
It used to be, for me, really difficult to decide who not to invite to something I was hosting. I’d want to include everyone, even if it wasn’t very feasible. That went for Christmas gifting, and anything that meant the possibility of leaving someone I knew out.
I’d feel guilty, …
Expect the Unexpected: A Gentler Way To Build Resilience
I was speaking with a friend a while ago about how disrupting it is to him when something unplanned happens. Many of us don’t handle change well, especially change we hadn’t seen coming. …
The Trouble With Expectations
Every morning, I remind myself that when I have an expectation, to notice it, to let it go and instead be open to whatever happens.
Expectations are stories …
I Used to Worry About Everything - Now I Choose What Matters
I worry about the future, and have since I was too young to remember not worrying about the future. I would worry about getting things done, about getting things done right, about being accepted, about wearing the right clothes, about serving the right food, about being prepared for any possible disaster – no matter how remote.
…
Embracing Solitude
My husband and I were talking about living in very small communities – 100 or less. I’ve lived in such a community when I lived in the Rockies. In that community, people came together for community Bingo night and other such events, …
When Emotions Run High, Pause First
In planning for my weekly blogs, I write down any ideas I come across, then review them for my next blog post. The following idea popped up: how powerful a momentary pause is in becoming master of our personal world.
I was talking to a friend yesterday about a relative he loves who tends to get bossy …
A Strength And Its Shadow: Lessons From A Two-Toned Car
Green and orange: that was the colour of our family car – bright orange covering the top; dark forest green covering the bottom. My dad was a traveling salesman and spent a lot of time out of town. Apparently, this was his way of keeping track of my mom as she went about her day.
Needless to say, it failed:
My Grandmother’s Quilt
The following is a blog I wrote several years ago, about ties with my grandmother through the quilt she made me, and which I use every summer. I’d just switched from winter to summer bedding. That brought me my annual opportunity to feel her presence, and experience the closeness I had with her.
Here it is …
I’ve spent the last month of evenings re-sewing the quilt my grandmother gave me …
Decluttering Your Mind
I used to spend most of my time in my mind, dreaming, planning, worrying, and spiraling. It was not only off-putting to anyone around me, it could also be dangerous. …
When Hard Work Turns Harmful: A Story Of Change
I spent time with an old friend a few weekends ago, who was convalescing after a long illness that was caused largely from overwork. My friend was known for her relentlessly hard work, never stopping when she got tired, pushing through any physical barrier to finish what she’d committed to on time.
People admired her for her energy …