Real Life Wellness: Balance is Overrated!

By Bill Hemmer

My last 3 articles have explained health lies we have all been taught that keep us stuck. I have extracted these lies from a fabulous book, The One Thing The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.

In this article, I will explain another common health lie we have all been told…that we have to live a balanced life.

Health Lie #5

Another lie we have all been told and tend to believe is that we must live a balanced life to be healthy and happy. You can’t work too much or play too much. You must balance your life so that you can live in the middle. This sounds nice, but the truth be told, this kind of life will never lead to the reversal of your chronic health conditions.

We all have the same number of hours per day. But if we try to balance everything equally, nothing will get all the attention it needs, and things will get done, but not to the best of your ability. This is especially true with your health.

Here is the new way to think about this health lie, it’s not about balance, it’s all about counterbalance. When you counterbalance, you go out of balance for a short period of time in one direction and then go in the opposite direction after that not to tip over.

When you are talking about your health, this becomes extremely important. Take for example your exercise. You can become out of balance trying a new kickboxing routine for a period of weeks and lose 10 pounds. Then, you rest from that routine for a few weeks to allow your aching feet and hands to heal from this new activity.

The same idea works with eating. You might dive deep into a ketogenic (fat-based) diet for a period of weeks and lose another 10 pounds. Then, back off the fat for a few weeks and eat more greens and protein to keep you from getting burned out.

So, as you can see, when you counterbalance extremes, your ability to make progress in short bursts increases dramatically. This type of condition also allows you to break out of old ruts and plateaus that you are currently dealing with. Extreme results come from being at the edges of activities. You will never get huge results from average measures.

If you want to produce the results you have always dreamed of! Getting you out of balance and producing fabulous results in the shortest period of time is the only goal for you.

My next article will complete the 6 Health lies we have all been taught. You can take any one of the lies I have already explained and make significant changes in your health picture.  Remember, stale thinking will get you stale results. Fresh thinking will lead to fresh results. Everybody likes that idea.