The Attraction of Opposites – How to add balance to your daily life

Hi Everyone,

Balance is very important. It’s the yin and yang of life that keeps us healthy and energetic. I have been learning this lesson the hard way but I hope this tip will save you the trouble and make it a little easier to learn balance. Let me explain.

My education is in information technology. Yes I admit it I am a geek at heart! To this day, I still remember my first computer a Commodore 64 that my father saved for and bought for me as Christmas present in 1984. I used to love playing all those computer games – Thrust, Sentinel, Jet Set Willy and Monty on the Run. You name it! Those early days of computing inspired me to become a computer programmer and I am still paying for that choice to this day. Only kidding! 

As information technology became my profession I still played computer games in my spare time and my overall sense of well being began to suffer. I mean it is no surprise I was feeling bad if I was sitting down all day in front of a computer only to come home and sit down in front of another computer. I was out of balance. I needed to change.

What I did was this. I made a promise to myself to reduce the amount of time I played computer games and do something that was directly the opposite of what I was doing during the day. So I took up cross country running. It was physically active where computing was inactive. It was outdoors where computing was indoors. It was natural where computing was unnatural. It was the opposite and it was adding balance to my life.

Don’t think I still don’t get “out of balance” today. The tension in my shoulders and my RSI is testament to too many hours at the keyboard. I try to address this by practicing yoga or working in the garden or simply going for walks in the countryside. I am lucky that I am surrounded by a beautiful Irish landscape.

My point is that one should do the opposite of what you do during the day. If your job is very physical do something with your brain when you get home and visa-versa. If you work alone do something with people and visa-versa again!

If you want to increase your sense of well being, this simple tip will go a long way to making you feel so much better.

As always, let me know what you think.

Allen