That All-Important Work/Life Balance, by Meredith Jackson
The secret to a happy healthy life is having a balance in what you do.
So many of us get absorbed in work due to the current economic pressures - it is so easy to get the balance wrong. Work, rest, play… we all know this saying.
Hard work has never killed anyone, as long as you balance it with the proper rest needed to keep the body & mind in shape. It is always said that if you want something done, ask a busy person. Why? Because they are doers, not talkers.
I feel the secret to life balance is a hobby. For some people, it is reading a book, for others it is fishing, golfing etc. For me, it is horses. I don't believe there is a creature in this world as beautiful as a horse in full flight. After a hard week at work, my horse is like an escape valve that allows me to unwind & release the stress & pressure of running a business in this tough climate. We all need something…. but a horse is special.
Every time I get on my horse, she will be in a particular mood (like all of us). Some days relaxed & chilled - another day hot & excited. This means I must now forget my daily pressures, come in to the moment & be in the now. I must become one with my horse - she demands it if I am to get the best out of her & myself. If I am preparing to go into a dressage arena, I must be at one with my horse.
Every one of us is made up of energy, & energy vibrates. If you measure our vibrations on a scale of 1 to 10, when we are having a bad day we will be vibrating between 3 & 4. If we have a happy thought, we can change that vibration level to 7 or 8. This can make quite a difference to how we feel & act.
This is what my horse does for me.
She will feel every vibration in my body & will react to what she feels. This is why you must be in the now, & release all the stress & tension within you. By doing this, the body will release the natural chemicals that give you the high factor that others must buy in illegal drugs etc. The joy & satisfaction that I get from my horse is so valuable to me in keeping my mind & body in balance.
Hobby or vocation, you may ask - to me, it is both. I eat, drink & sleep my horses. As I write this, I’m thinking of tomorrow - I have the first event of 5 in a winter league show jumping competition.
The last few months, I have been working in preparation with my horse so we can do our best. This again is the secret; to do our best.
When I go to a big competition with my riding club friends, we are all very competitive & like to do well - like everyone in life, we all want to be winners. However, my attitude would be go into that arena and give it my best shot. On the day, I might have a pole down & not get through to the jump off, but I will sit back & say “well, we gave it a go, we are going home in one piece & we will live to fight another day”.
This also sums up life - not everything we do works out to plan.
It is not the outcome of a challenge that is the important element - how we react to the outcome is more important. My business is sales & the perfect outcome from every sales enquiry is an order, but we live in the real world & we don’t always get what we want. But, like horses & horse riding, the secret to success in life is persistence…. we must not stop when we hear “no”, because "a no is only a no today". I don’t give up horse riding when I have a fence down or fall off.
I get back up & try again until I get it right; the secret is to do something different. If I get the wrong stride into a fence coming off a corner, I must ensure not to take the exact same line into that fence, or I will achieve the exact same result. The same holds true in life & business - if you are not getting the correct outcome, go back to the drawing board & make a new plan. Take a different line into the fence until you get the correct result.
The result being a “yes” in sales, or a clear fence in show jumping.
“You have never failed to you stop trying”
Over the past 4 years, life has been like going around Badminton cross-country course. Like the fences on the course, the shear scale of life’s complex challenges have been scary. Before I go out on a cross-country course, I will walk the course & make a plan of what I will do & how I will approach the fence. I must then go out on that course with the belief that I can cross those fences… the same applies in life. We must first believe we can achieve. You must see what you want, believe it & then achieve it.
If I come in to a fence with doubt in my mind, I will be vibrating that energy down to my horse. She will feel there is a problem or something scary on the other side & will stop, because I was the one who told her. I must throw my heart over that fence first & the rest will follow.
Our negative mind defeats us long before anything, or anyone else.