Have you ever tried Yoga? P90x has a workout called YogaX and it is all about strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance. Is it possible that YogaX has some life lessons baked right into it that we may not even realize?
The 90-Day LifeWorkout Challenge that I have embarked on is based on the LifeWorkout Principle which states that unless we have health and balance in our LifeSystems (i.e. Faith, Family, Finances and Fitness), we have the potential of suffering from Dis-Ease. Balance should absolutely be a goal in our life, but the test of being balanced every day is something else. We are faced with the question, “balance or priority?” I have one friend who recently said, “Balance is over-rated, I choose to prioritize”. When I first heard that, I wasn’t sure I agreed, but over this last week, I have become a believer.
However, before I came to terms with this principle over this past week, I had made it my goal to take care of each LifeSystem every day during these 90-days to develop good habits and mindsets and a healthy overall life. My pastor preached one time that the profitable things in life sometimes start as a duty, then they become disciplines, then desires, and finally delights. I am not naïve enough to think that delight in every LifeSystem will be achieved in a mere 90 days. In reality, it will take a lifetime, but I do expect to see some significant progress and that is the goal, isn’t it?
Well, back to the balance versus priorities question. I made it a goal to have at least an hour of devotion every day, do P90x 6 days a week, spend good family time every evening, and make good financial decisions every day. Whew, it’s a great goal, but sometimes life gets in the way, or at least, we allow it to. I became very stressed and maybe even a little overwhelmed in this last week because I came up to the end of my days and found that I had not yet done something in one or two of these areas. Sometimes I forced myself to do it anyway, but felt bad doing it out of duty versus delight and the quality suffered because I was up until 1 a.m.
In other cases, I realized that to give a quality effort in the most important areas of my life, my faith and my family, I had to say “see you tomorrow” to P90x. Over the first 14 days of P90x, I missed two workouts. I didn’t like, I got a little anxious about it, but I knew that I needed to focus on the priority of my faith and family. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t bat 1.000 with my faith and family every day either, and those were days where I realized I had misprioritized.
Now, placing myself accountable to all of you that read this blog and follow my LifeWorkout journey has been a huge motivator. I am trying to be real with my journey because too many times people only talk about their successes in life. While I know that my blessings and successes in life are very much present today and are yet to come, I am very much aware that many of those are born through the travail that I have felt by working through my challenges.
During this week, my wife and I were able to reflect on these words of James when he wrote in James 1:2-4, “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”
So, what’s the point of this post? Strive to be balanced in your life, but when you are faced with life, choose to prioritize it; (1) Love God, (2) Love People, (3) Trust in God as your Provider, and (4) Take care of your body because it was redeemed by God at the Cross.
Look out for a new post coming soon that addresses the question, “Are You Cheating On Me?”
Pressing toward the mark,
Steve