“Focus your force on one point” - Sun Tszu
From my experience you can really exceed in one area of your life if you follow this mantra. Having a clear view on what you want to achieve and what the outcomes will be can be very powerful. But this can often detriment other aspects of your life.
In 2022, I took on a pretty big challenge, some further study through university, whilst holding down a full time job. Not only that, but we were expecting our second child, my son. Further complexity was added by the fact we were waiting for the borders to open here in Western Australia for COVID-19 and my job was to lead my organisations response to the pandemic in aged care.
Needless to say, I was spread pretty thin. I feel that I have quite a tolerance for stress and welcomed the challenge of attempting to manage all of those significant things.
During 2022, I felt I managed everything well, given the circumstances. I completed the Graduate Certificate, our organisation responded exceptionally well to the pandemic and I managed to stay married!
In hindsight, what I gave up was the opportunity to really enjoy and live the experience of being a new dad, being there for my wife, my daughter and my new son, who wanted a present partner and father.
I also let my physical health decline and knew I wasn’t in the physical shape I wanted to be or needed to be.
2022 allowed me to further define the career I want but it also led to so many other important areas of my life to decline.
All things in life require a balance to be optimal and perform. I am now more aware and conscious of all the aspects in my life that are important to me: my family, my career and my health.
The choices I try and make now focus on these three areas. All of which I am working on continuously. It is a hard balance, and one that I am not always good at. But I catch myself when I am not performing in one area and assess and refocus.
I was someone that laughed or sniggered at the thought of journaling or meditation but now I am someone who is proud to say I do both regularly.
For me the journaling is a great way to get my ruminating thoughts out of my head, set daily targets and list what I am grateful for.
Meditation quietens my often frantic mind of noise and thoughts with the intention of not having anything buzzing around in my head. I’m not quite there yet, but daily practice over the last 12 months has allowed me to often find silence in my own head.
I took some dramatic action to help make meditation work for me, I struggled to stay focussed. So I decided to start cold plunging to get me present in the moment. It definitely works! I’m regularly cold plunging at sub 4C in my home made ice bath…an upgrade from my wheelie bin full of ice.
The key has been to continue pushing through the challenges, pushing always a little further and being grateful for the improvements that I see, no matter how small.
To be cliche, it is about the journey and struggle, not the destination.
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