Cue flashback music... when my sister, cousins and I were teenagers, we basically lived on the water all summer. We

spent days driving around the bay whipping each other around on tubes, knee boards and skis behind the boat. The goal

was always to be the last one on while the others tried to knock you off your craft. One day, in a silly moment of trying his

best karate kid/Mr. Miyagi combo impression, my cousin quipped “balance is key” just before he wobbled and fell

overboard.

As a joke, that phrase got a lot of mileage that summer. As an unintended pearl of wisdom, it has become sort of a mantra

in the years since. If you’ve ever tried paddleboarding, for example, you know that finding balance requires fairly steady

awareness of yourself and your surroundings as well as little micro movements (one at a time) to adjust to the stuff

around you that you can’t control (like wind, waves, other paddlers). Too big a reaction (or too many at once) and splash!

The same holds true for life in general.

Usually we look to make lifestyle changes when something feels off or out of balance. Of course there’s no shortage of

information, tips and advice flooding the internet and our social media feeds, which may inspire us to try all of the things

at once or overwhelm and leave us frozen in place. Both responses are “big reactions” which ultimately keep us in that

unbalanced position. Instead, consider making a tiny shift, just one small thing. For example:

*If you want to shake up your food routine, play with using a new spice or herb for one of your regular meals

*If you want to exercise more, go walk, dance, bike (whatever your thing is) for 10 minutes right now.

*If you want to sleep more, go to bed 15 minutes earlier tonight.

Remember, “balance is key”. Make that one tiny shift toward more balance and keep doing it until it starts to feel like part

of the routine. Keep tuning in to how you feel and when you start to feel the need to rebalance again, make another small

shift. In the words of Indira Gandhi, “Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now. You can break that big

plan into small steps and take the first step right away."