Creating Balance || Stacey Magnesio

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. – Albert Einstein

Time. Work. Money. Family. Staying Fit. A Social Life. Nutrition. Dating. Sometimes I do a great job balancing my priorities. I feel in control and successful and proud of myself…and then… sometimes I feel like this…

Sometimes I just want to be a kid again, when life wasn’t one big balancing act. And, learning to ride that bike was my only priority. Most of us are committed to a number of things that must get done on a daily basis, but let’s face it, sometimes it gets tough to keep peddling.

So how do you find balance? What’s the secret?

Balance isn’t something you find. Balance is something you create.

Let’s get one thing straight, I am a type A personality, a perfectionist, and I love being on a schedule (most of the time). In other words, I like balance. During the week I do a pretty good job of creating that balance. I do a bang up job teaching most days, eat right, train hard, talk to the family, hang with friends, catch a few tv shows, read, and fall face first into my pillow. I have a solid routine when it comes to food prep which keeps me on the straight and narrow as far as nutrition goes. I am lucky enough that I also get to play every day. Yes, as in recess! I have also learned to leave most of my work, at work, even if that means staying after school a little longer and spending a couple hours at school on Sundays. My students also come with a lot of emotional baggage that I mentally have to leave at school.

I go straight to the gym from school (because if I went home first I would probably crash on the couch). Then there is the social life. I’m not going to lie, my social life was a lot more hip before I met crossfit, but that is because my priorities changed. My happy hour is now spent “lifting a bar”. I can kill two birds with one stone. Also, I’m older and hangovers suck! Most of the people I surround myself with now have the same goals too, which helps. Not to mention we have an amazing community of wonderful people.

Part of the draw of CrossFit is that it allows us to tackle anything life throws at us (mentally and physically). Unfortunately, if your balance is off, performance will suffer both at the box and in the rest of your daily activities.

No one is perfectly balanced. I surely am not. There are days that I am fully focused on my job and my students and could care less about anything else that needs to get done. Sometimes on the weekend I just want to eat and drink and not worry about my nutrition. There are times that I can’t make it to the gym. And my gosh, when was the last time I went on a date? So does that mean I am losing my grip and becoming a little wobbly on my bike? No, not necessarily. I am just shifting my priorities for a while.

Of course there are those days when you have to slam-on-your-brakes, and you might go flying over the handlebars. It happens. And so does the STRESS that comes with it!

When your balance is thrown off completely it can be hard to get back in the swing of things. Wipe off those knees, and climb back on that bike…Acknowledging that these things happen and choosing whether to let them work for or against you is a mindset. If you feel off balance, check your priorities. What is it that you are working towards or want to achieve? And are you leaving other priorities in the dust?

Tips for creating balance:

Keep moving CFA!

-Stacey Magnesio