creativity
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here’s a practice called One Little Word (a
project started by memory-keeper, Ali
Edwards, aliedwards.com) where instead of
making New Year’s resolutions, you simply choose
a word for your upcoming year. It focuses the mind
and simplifies things. While you might ‘fail’ your
resolutions (within weeks in my experience!), you
can’t fail a word. It keeps you mindful, tuned in,
and, as Ali says, it often works the other way
around: your word chooses you. There’s a feeling
of manifestation to it. A positive intention. I mention
all this because in 2012, my word was ‘balance’.
It followed ‘create’ in 2010, when I started
working in craft magazines, and ‘evolve’, in 2011,
amidst a divorce. It came before ‘free’ in 2014,
‘bright’ in 2015, when I wanted to work, live and be
smarter, and ‘save’ in 201 7 , when I was all about
taking ‘bright’ further: salvation in expenditure of
time, energy, emotion and drama. I’ve had a few
years off here and there. But, the thing that struck
me about ‘balance’ was its unicycle quality. The
perpetual motion of it. It’s never done. I didn’t end
the year with a feeling of completion, or that I’d
even fully understood and explored every facet of
the word. When December rolled around that year,
I was still mastering balance. And I still am.
I spent more time meditating on this word than
the others: I made art around it, took photographs
and kept magazine cuttings. I scrapbooked it,
journaled it, made it real in my life. I started a Tai
Chi class – the ultimate test of physical balance –
and I kept notes of hours spent working, resting,
going out or moving my body. I paid more attention
to my bank balance. I looked at every definition and
connotation. My star sign is Libra and there was
a nice feeling of fate to it. The symbol of the scales:
measured, equal, fair. Seeing life filled up this way
helped me do things with purpose. It was a great
exercise in being in the moment – the picture I held
in my mind was of teetering on a tightrope, juggling
all the elements of life. And not falling off.
It’s a continual adjustment, of course. You have
to check in constantly and see what feels out ofMastering balance
How can we bring balance to our lives?
Accept that it’s a perpetual see-saw and enjoy the ride
Words: Lara Watson / Illustration: Ellice Weaverwhack. I remember reading at the time that a work-
life balance was a myth, and I understand that now:
there are simply times when one area will take over
another, and that’s ok. I have pretty much zero
balance right now, because I have a nine-month-old
boy. He takes priority over everything else, which
is, obviously, absolutely how it should be. That’s
just where I am at the moment and there is utter joy
in it, as well as the exhaustion, missed meals and
monotony of new motherhood!
I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a kind of
balance in simply living every emotion to its fullest,
or every season of your life to the maximum, before
moving on to the next, instead of striving to have
it all going on at once. Committing yourself to the
situation in hand – rather than flitting between
work, life, family and friends – and, more simply,
fitting it all in, however rushed or distracted, is
arguably the more conscientious way to be.
I guess what I’m saying is that balance looks
different to different people and at different stages
of their lives. With each phase, you feel out the
right line-up for wellbeing. For me, these days it’s
getting out and about as much as possible with my
little one while prioritising play and bedtime
cuddles, then spending a couple of days a week at
my parents’ place so I can have a long shower and
get a good chunk of work done. Exercise and
cleaning and reading and culture and dates with
my partner have dropped off the wire. For now.
But it’s not forever. This act will whizz by so fast.
Maybe next year my word should be something
like ‘cherish’. Or ‘circus’.Lara Watson is a freelance editor
and writer based in Devon. She
edits Project Calm magazine and
commissions features for Annie
Sloan's magazine, The Colourist.
Lara is also an avid crocheter and is
currently enjoying life as a new mum
to a chirpy little boy named Wren.