Seeking life balance?

brizzlar

I'm a 29 year old guy from Melbourne, Australia, training to work as a pastor/potential military chaplain. I know how easy it is to get obsessed with training and the body.. So If anyone would like to chat about that issue or others, feel free to drop a line!

tiffanylytle73

Hey there I've previously had a problem with going all out super strict and intense for awhile and then I give up and fall of the wagon because I was to hard on myself. Recently I'm trying not to restrict to much and use more of a moderation approach so I don't do that again

littlebrownbat3

Weirdly, I've been considering this recently. For the past 5 years, I've been a grad student, and my life revolved around my work, and fitness. My social life needs were met at work, and I spent a lot of free time exercising as a stress release. Now that I have a stable job and weekends (my first steady weekends in 15 years) I'm looking for ways to develop a social life, enjoy work, and stay focused on training. I'm finding as I get older (ok, whatever, I'm 30) I'm noticing I need more recovery time to be able to maintain any kid of intense work out. I (heavy) lift, do yoga, and run, but finding balance between training/nutrition and a social life has been hard. I feel nervous about spending too much time alone and on "the body" when I am new to an area and don't know anyone, feeling as though I should be "out being social" and then when I am social, I worry about losing healthy habits. But, I know getting balance is a work in progress.

littlebrownbat3

Whoa. Clearly you made me think a bit deeply about this. Good job - pastoral work clearly suits you.

brizzlar

@tiffanylytle73

Thanks for sharing your experiences with exercise/diet.

I'm not a psychologist, but what you have experienced is very normal. You might find it helpful to reflect upon what it is that you ultimately desire and whether or not you have/are obtaining that from your training.

If I were to hazard a guess, your training/diet didn't provide what you are ultimately seeking and so you gave up. Would there be any truth in that? Ive experienced a similar thing so I don't say this from a place of superiority .

brizzlar

@littlebrownbat3:

Thanks for the compliment .

Yep your experiences are also pretty normal. We all center our life around something or multiple somethings. When our life changes significantly we end up getting thrown - often because our routines are altered. But sometimes deeper things happen and our very identity can be threatened.

I think you're right, balance does come gradually - and it's something that you have to keep working at (my experience).

Again, I'd encourage you to just reflect a bit more on what motivates you to do what you do (whether gym, socialising, work etc) try and write it on a mind map or something. Then spend some time thinking about what you hope to get from those things - ie what is it that you are ultimately seeking? Then consider whether you will find it in those things or not. That will assist you in working out how to prioritise your life and perhaps give you more confidence in knowing that you are spending the right time doing the different things you do each week .