What is Balance?

There's a current trend in bodybuilding to seek balance, and you could say I'm guilty of continuing to perpetuate the idea. But hear me out, because I do believe it's possible to achieve a sense of balance as a bodybuilder.

Bodybuilding is a sport that requires focus and control. It requires you to to push it in the gym when you sometimes feel like laying on the couch. It requires you to grind out reps that sometimes burn and push through cardio that sometimes drags. It requires you to override your body's appetite, where you sometimes force feed yourself, and you sometimes go to bed hungry. It requires you to look at your body differently, where you sometimes feel good enough, yet you sometimes struggle.

This probably goes against everything that would be considered balance, but I believe that balance is in the eye of the beholder. You must find a happy medium where you're still enjoying what you do and where your passion is still there. I think that's the point of all the "sometimes" above, is that while it sometimes sucks, it doesn't always suck. Overall, you should enjoy the process. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, why even do it?

And that's where balance comes in. Balance means different things to different people at different parts of their lives. I'm not sure that two peoples idea of balance would be the same, but in the big picture, you should find more happiness in doing it than you would in not doing it. The excitement and energy you get from it should far outweigh what the struggles take out of you. Your autonomy should be at the forefront, where you do it because you get to and not because you feel like you have to. It should add value to your life, not take away from it.

It's ok to struggle with balance. We all do; we're human. It's ok to walk away from something that no longer serves you, just as it's ok to hold on to something that does. Your balance probably won't be the same as the next person's, and that's ok, too. It's ok to define your own balance, so long as you're honest with yourself and can truly be happy with it. And it's ok to find balance in a world where others may not see it. Balance and bodybuilding are not mutually exclusive, and there's nothing wrong with pursuing both.