When I talk to other moms, whether expressed or alluded to, balance tends to be part of the conversation.

As we are nearing the end of the school year, not one or two, but several moms have said to me ‘I can’t wait for school to be over, it’s just easier when school is out.’ That might be contrary to what most people think-believing that when school is out there is more work for parents to do. I’m right there with all the moms I speak with. As the school year comes to a close, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I won’t have to be nudging Caidin to get up and get dressed; I won’t have to make a lunch before 7 AM while I’m trying to figure out breakfast at the same time, I won’t have to stress about getting him to school so that I can rush home to do a reading or teach a class and I won’t have to juggle my clients around his ever changing pick-up schedule.

Summer is just easier.

Finding balance as a parent is challenging; so much so that I’ve actually opted for flexibility over the notion of balance. In honesty I just don’t think balance, in the way we tend to ‘search’ for it, exists. When you have a child or children, life is always shifting and changing. Needs change almost daily and if we strive for a sense of balance, it just never seems attainable.

I still laugh to myself about this one moment last spring. I had three readings scheduled, a class to teach, my husband was at work and we had water flowing into the basement. So there I was, in between my work schedule, running up and down to the basement trying to find a way to channel the water flow to the sump pump out-take. By the time I got it figured out I had dragged down to the basement four different hoses, two submersible pumps and a straw (don’t ask what I was trying to do with the straw.) At one point a friend called, so I now had the phone, the hoses, the pumps and the straw and she asked me what I was doing. As I told her, we both laughed at the craziness of the day. I still did all my readings, taught the class and did it all in time to go pick-up Caidin from school

There was no balance in that day. If I had tried to find balance I would have lost it. What I did have was flexibility. I moved around the things that I could, I let the water flow when I couldn’t be there bailing and in the end, it all worked out (notwithstanding the debacle with the straw).

When it comes to balance, I tend pursue it as more of an internal experience. I want my energies to be balanced because when they are, my life flows with ease, no matter what is going on. But the idea that we can somehow create balance in our lives, when they are this fast paced and there are so many factors to take into account, I think, just creates an experience where we feel like we are somehow failing if all the parts of our lives aren’t balanced.

My advice is to create a life where you have flexibility and create a body where you have balance.

© 2012 Christine Agro

Christine Agro is a clairvoyant, naturopath, Master Herbalist, conscious mom and author of 50 Ways to Live Life Consciously as well as of The Conscious Living Wisdom Cards (Special Moms’ Edition). Christine is founder of The Conscious Mom’s Guide , a membership site where she helps support you on your own journey of living life consciously and on your journey of being a Conscious parent. You can also join Christine on Facebook. To contact Christine or to schedule an appointment with her please email her.