jeffy

mrissa has created a new holiday for today: One Year Closer to Balance Day.

It's an excellent excuse to use my happy new icon from Kimono's Townhouse and to share 5 things about balance.

1. At some point in the book, John Gardner's Grendel says, "Balance is everything." He may have been talking about the best number of human warriors to eat per day, I don't remember exactly, but it still seems a wise and true statement.

2. I ride a bicycle as my primary form of transportation. Even though I do it every day, the fact that I (or anyone) can balance a moving vehicle on two skinny spinning tires still seems a little magical.

3. One of the things I've done this past year to get closer to balance is use medication to treat my depression. The meds aren't perfect, but they are giving me the energy and focus I need to treat the underlying causes of my depression. It's a crutch for my injured brain, and if it were a real crutch I'd have it covered with a decoupage of stickers and happy, thankful words and images to make it clear that it's a valued and appreciated tool in my arsenal.

4. Another thing has been therapy. I'm so thankful to have found a shrink who sees his job as helping me figure out what's going on in my own head. It's such a joy to have a way of collapsing the Goedelian uncertainty of my own theories about what my brain is up to.

5. My challenge for today and onwards is to find balance for everything I want in my life. The list is absurdly long and varied. I don't actually believe that it's possible to fit everything (unless immortality is right around the corner. Anyone?) So the challenge boils down to what am I going to choose not to do? So I've been pondering that question today.

Right now I'm choosing to not spend any more time at work this week. Pager willing.