Yoga, how I’ve missed you! It felt so good to be in class today, my first class at the health club. Yoga almost always inspires some sort of revelation or epiphany for me, and today was no different. Now, these revelations are usually super-basic, things that I should already know, or I knew and forgot, so I call them my “moment’s of duh,” because, well, duh, bottlecappie.

Today’s moment came while we were in tree pose, balancing on one foot. As I worked to keep my balance steady, it occured to me that balance isn’t something that you attain in life and then poof! you’re good forever. Balance requires constant adjustments, some big and some small. Even people who are masters at balancing, a tightrope walker for instance, are still making small, unseen corrections to account for things happening outside of their control – the wind, a slick spot on the wire, or a moment of mental distraction.

Same with life, even those people who seem to have it all effortlessly under control are constantly making decisions about what they can or will do, how much to take on, how wide a margin of error they need for the times when they can’t be 100%. Right now, I’m making a lot of big, obvious changes in my life as I seek more balance. As I get closer and closer to the balance I’m seeking, I’m sure that the adjustments that I’ll make will be smaller, and hopefully will require less life-upheaval and restructuring. But it’s a relief to know that it’s a constant process that everyone has to work to maintain. It’s not like I have this one chance to get it right, and if I make the wrong choices I’ll be screwed forever.

Not at all. If I need to put my foot down and rest for a while, I can do that. If, on my journey, I sometimes take on too much – too many classes, too many shifts, too many dates (!) – I can say: Hey, I need to do less, rest more. And it’s good to know that I will get stronger, that I am getting stronger already. I’m getting better and better at taking care of myself. Hell, maybe I’ll even be good at it someday.