Art of Moderation

“Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.”
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

One of these days, when i was having this conversation with my sibling, I happened to say very instinctively that, most of us live our lives in extremities. From just an inborn statement, which almost stood null and void, I fell in this line of thought of the art of moderation. Most of us do not understand the art of moderation, neither are we able to strike a perfect balance and understand subtleties of life. Our life unfolds as a Drama in various stages, and all of us have a role to play. As we progress with every new stage we have to take on a new role; and every new role comes with a challenge. Suddenly amidst everything you see yourself battling several roles together; you are a son/daughter, brother/ sister, Girlfriend/boyfriend or Spouse, an employee or an aspiring student, a friend and various other multifaceted you. But, are we able to do justice to all these roles that we have to play? That’s exactly where maintaining the appropriate balance is required. I often witness, people being engrossed in one role and neglecting the rest.

Aspirations and ambitions are great, they are a driving force in many people’s life, but for some they completely forget it is just a part of life, they forget to see the bigger picture, and a role takes a toll on them so much that they become ignorant to the things that need their attention equally, if not more. They are so self-absorbed, and stretch too far in life, not realizing that one day they’ll find, ten years have got behind them, and they’ve missed the starting gun. They forget the romantic in them and just run in this rat race. Whereas there are a few who live in an elated state of bliss, a feeling that they relate to love, stimulating pleasures and adventures in life. For them life is all about having fun and enjoying. They believe in living in the moment and embracing life as it comes. They fail to understand life isn’t a bed of roses; there are dark sides of life too. Living in the moment sounds fancy but not practical.Destiny does exist, but no one ever achieved something without working for it.
Some are caught in the extremes of career, some in their love life, some in their adventures, some might race for money. Some may even be stuck in satisfying and making others happy, such people have high need for approval and recognition, which outshines them. Some have their extremes of self-monitoring to an extent that they leave behind the joys of life. You go after one thing and miss out on the others; the state of equilibrium seems like a farfetched reality for the human mind. And it’s completely okay to not maintain a perfect equilibrium, but sometimes the imbalance costs us way more than our capacity to think, time slips by our hands and all we are left with certain regrets. Maybe we pondered over fun so much, that we lost our precious years of making a career or maybe we were so driven by the problems of our daily life that we missed on the little joys. Not many go on the track of living in extremes and realize that they are leaving something essential far behind.
Living life in extremes gives us greater stimulation in life, but a greater stimulation will never appease us of our desires, it will actually increase our appetite for them. It will leave us in the state of imbalance externally as well as internally. Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.
Even though, I am a novice in carving order out of chaos, but the few things that I do to strike that equilibrium in life includes reflecting on oneself deeply, and examining the aspects of life that need balance. Introspecting and being honest to oneself is one but changing oneself by stepping outside the comfort zone is another. It takes a lot of effort to break the strands of complacency, but it’s better than regretting later. Setting goals and preparing yourself to achieve them can help you triumph balance. Be kind to yourself at all times, because balance won’t feel good if you are cruel to yourself in creating it. Lastly connect more to people who can challenge the demons inside you, who can show you the dark sides of you and who will celebrate the joys of little accomplishments in life.
Let’s move towards attaining a more balanced human life 😉