There is a lot to be said about spontaneity.  Heck, I love to do things on the fly. I love spontaneous trips and get-togethers and impulse buying. Heck I am pretty darn sure I am one of the reasons Amazon.com is doing so well. I have been accused of being an “early adopter”, meaning that I like to try things first, without peer review, uncharted waters, folks. Being spontaneous just makes life interesting.

However, there is a drawback to all or nothing spontaneity.. remember the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper?  The grasshopper lounged around all summer while the ant worked hard to prepare for the coming winter.  Well, I’m no Ant…but I am not the Grasshopper either…I think I fall somewhere in the middle. That is what I believe life is about. BALANCE. There is an ideal called OOLA that is based on finding balance in all aspects of your life, to help you find peace and happiness. There is an actual website where you can take a quiz to see where you are lacking balance. Its not rocket science, but a tool that gets your mental gears going. Its about reflection and action to create some balance. What areas of your life are you neglecting? What in your life is stealing time and energy from other parts of your life that need attention? I had an OOLA score of 443. I won’t go into the whole process, but if you want to look into it, the link is here.

So.  Balance.  I think its important.

I think it allows you to achieve your real potential in life, and realize your real destiny. How can you possibly be what you are meant to be if you are distracted and caught up in the weight of an unbalanced life? Is your job making you miserable? Do you bring that misery home to your family, kick the dog, yell at the kids, then turn on the TV to just tune it all out so you can forget how much you hate your work?  Are you surrounded by negative people who gossip and bring others down because they are lacking in self worth? Do you bathe in material things, or food, or drink to fill an empty hole that is an unbalanced spot on your wheel of life? Sound hokey? Give it 30 days.

Try to put the remote down. Stop taking calls from that Negative Nancy, tell her you are busy LIVING LIFE. Don’t buy anything that is not 100% NEEDED. Stop drinking. What ever is making you neglect the things you really love and care about, give them up for just 30 days. Is that terrifying? Cut it in half. Just give up,whatever it is, for two weeks. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR TWO WEEKS. I know you can’t quit your job for two weeks ( unless its vacation..and that’s fun, right?) Take that time and look for another job, or formulate a plan on how to make your work situation better ( promotion, lateral move, different location). Seriously, Mike and I are in the throws of this now ( BOTH of us!). We are spending too much energy on work related stress. Hence, the move to Dallas.

What in life are you not prepared for? Retirement? Wow, that’s a big one, lets start smaller.. your 10 year reunion in 6 months? You gained 20lbs since high school and well, those Facebook pics are all from before your kids were born.  Not every day can be Throwback Thursday, y’all.  What are you going to do? You have 6 months. Find your balance for time for yourself. Change your diet. Eat better NOW. Don’t wait till the month before and starve. You have to channel the ANT. Tell the GRASSHOPPER to f-off. You know why? If you don’t, that last month you will neglect all other parts of your balance to lose that weight. Your family, health, mental peace.. all in the toilet.

That is just an example, people. This really applies to everything.  You want to go to Disney? Set a goal. Put a date down on paper and make a plan on how you are going to pay for it. Heck, they make it easy now, Disney has a vacation fund that you can automatically deduct money per week, month, whatever to help you plan ( brilliant on their part by the way) financially for your trip. So you take out 200 bucks a month for a year and you are 2400.00 closer to your trip. Have a yard sale. Put change in a big jar. Sell young living oils, heck, whatever you can do to plan and achieve your goal, with balance. (see how I snuck the oils in there…and by the way, if you want to do that, PM me, ha)

Why did I post this today? I was reflecting in my jetted tub again ( yes. I take lots of jetted tub baths) and thinking about why life gets hard. We don’t plan. We have distractions that steal away our time and attentions from the important things. I am working on that myself.  We should always be working on something that makes us better. I hear all these people saying YoLO! ( You Only Live Once). No. You live every day. You only die once. Unless you’re a cat., cause you know they have 9, and they are lucky like that…but us, we get to live every day until we die. Did you hear me?

YOU GET TO LIVE EVERY SINGLE DAY…UNTIL YOU DIE.  That’s pretty deep.  So prepare for life. Find a way to create balance and peace, and bring that home. Love your life.

Charge your life phone guys, because destiny is going to call, and it won’t leave a message.