I still have the bruise… I was doing an obstacle course at a friend’s house one time and I’m not going to say I had a good time. There is always a balance portion in any obstacle course and this one was a “tight rope”. It looked more like a two-by-four to me, but I could be wrong.
Anyways, I was shuffling across this narrow bit of wood, and guess what? I lost my balance, imagine that. Buuut, when I fell my feet went to the left and my head went to the right, so my thigh slammed right in the middle of the dang thing. It hurt really bad. It hurt so bad that a few days later I had a beautiful purple bruise on my right thigh as big as my hand. In fact, to this day I still have a divot in my leg so whenever I try to admire the muscles I’m growing I have some nice quads and a ghetto indent.
Whatever, I never even think about it except when I’m at the gym, shaving my legs, putting on lotion, getting dressed, buying new clothes, or in my waking dreams so not much.
My point with this introduction is that life is like a balance beam and sometimes we fall.
And sometimes it’s not pretty.
Sometimes we are so well versed in only one thing that when we try something new or try to relate to someone else we fail.
And it’s obvious.
Life isn’t about being perfect, but I do believe life is about finding a certain amount of balance. And you find that balance through trial and error, successes and failures.
Like on the two-by-four, my life was seriously unbalanced. I was book smart, but definitely not street smart. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that I have an adequate amount of common sense, but I was never open to other things besides what I was learning in school.
When I finally started living my life I realized there was so much more I wanted for myself. I wanted to be able to train at the gym properly, better my nutrition, cook delicious meals, draw, speak a little more eloquently, learn more tech and everything else I can’t think of right now.
The A’s and the B’s or the F’s don’t matter anymore, life isn’t a competition it’s a discovery. It’s about finding the life you want to live.
Being Well-rounded to me means having a little understanding in several aspects of life. For example, consider the eight areas of wellness, each area is vital to our overall wellness. Of course, when we are little kids we aren’t expected to hit the gym or do the family finances, but we do eventually grow into those responsibilities. We have to make a conscious effort in those areas.
How to become well-rounded? Good question!
The secret to being well-rounded is to NEVER STOP LEARNING. You struggle with your finances? Ask someone for advice or take a course. You are inconsistent about exercising? Try a new workout class. You struggle emotionally with anxiety and depression? Undergo therapy and learn more about yourself and possible causes and solutions. And on and on and on!
If you have some sort of question or something you’d like to improve there is always a solution you just have to be willing to put in the time to find it.
The beauty of technology today is that there are so many resources online! Podcasts, YouTube videos, books, blogs, courses, and even tik-toks and reels carry great information.
These questions don’t have to be a big event either. Nobody is expecting you to go back to college and invest thousands of dollars. Your question might be how do I draw better? You are not required to take an art class now. Honestly, just google it, watch the ten-minute video, and see if it helps.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. I think the best thing is to be open-minded.
Open-minded and willing!
I was open-minded, but I was never willing. I didn’t want to fail and I didn’t want everyone to watch me fail. The funny thing is… nobody is watching you. The other funny thing is that everyone had to start somewhere so nobody is even expecting you to get it right on the first try. Give yourself some grace!
I used to have terrible anxiety about this, but I realized it’s better to put something out there rather than nothing. You are never going to improve if you don’t start and see where you are at.
So draw that horrible picture, watch the YouTube video, and see how much you improve.
Everything takes time, but it is so important to invest in yourself and develop your qualities and skills. Put yourself on your list of priorities and create that well-rounded balanced life I know you can achieve!
xxx Karlie