A Balancing Act

I'm learning that life is a balancing act. It's never black or white, or all or nothing. Life is grey and met somewhere in the middle of all things.

In my college philosophy class we learned about virtues and vices. What stood out to me the most is, if you have too much or too little of a virtue it becomes a vice. Take prudence for example; the quality of being cautious.

Jake bringing the crash pads for bouldering!

Being cautious can be a very good thing; rock climbing is a dangerous sport if you don't take the correct precautions. It's erroneous to try to climb a mountain for your first time without any knowledge of climbing or without any of the gear. However, if you've been trained on how to climb and have the equipment you need, you're being prudent and understand the risks.

You can also be too prudent. An example of that is being stingy with your money. You might carefully guard your income and choose rarely to spend it. You'll go out to dinner with friends and somehow get out of paying your share. Or you'll forgo certain experiences because you don't want to pay for it. I have a priest friend who went to Austria and his traveling companion didn't want to see the sound of music tour because it was 40€! Imagine that, they missed out on a wonderful experience because he didn't want to pay the money.

Ok, I went on a tangent here, because my point is you have to find balance in everything. I always want to eat donuts and ice cream, but that's not sustainable. I need other vitamins and nutrients in my diet to be healthy and happy. Which is why more regularly I will eat whole grains, fish and vegetables. I've tried beet pasta sauce and cauliflower chips.

However, I think it's important to enjoy yourself. Life is short, and there are so many wonderful foods to try. It's worth it to get the extra cookie or a large ice cream every once and a while. I heard from a friend that someone she follows on Instagram treated her self to whole eggs, and not egg whites. If that's what makes you happy, that's great! But if you're always calorie counting and restricting yourself, getting anxious about what foods you eat, that's not good either.

It's all about finding that happy medium, where you're getting what your body needs, while also feeding your soul. Again, I'm no expert here, but there's so many ways to eat healthy that are delicious, and also indulging every now and then!

Treat yo'self