The mantra of the edge dancer. What is time anyway? I spent a decent amount of time studying time and the many nuances associated with it. Very interesting how the concept of time and schedule have evolved over the centuries. This has all led to me sitting here on January 23rd, 2021 at 5:38 A.M. in Pacific Time Zone, specifically, Pacific Standard Time with is UTC Offset by -07:00 typing this blog. I am now ruled by time, schedule entries, pacing established by thousands of elements in our society competing for attention. Today is Saturday. I think this has been designated by society as “my personal day,” or has it? Apparently the marketing person that just hit me up on Linked-In, Text, Email, and a Phone call all in the same 2 minutes is not aware of this fact.
We talk about this ideal of having balance of in life. We must be balanced. This is usually a reference to the amount of time spent on certain activities. Yesterday I spent way too much time on work and not enough time with family, or personal time. Today I am back in my office getting ready to work again. I might get some laundry done today. Might. Maybe, just maybe, I will get some time to have some balance. What exactly is balance anyway?
Balance insinuates that we are teetering on a precipice between two things. Perhaps work and life? Who created that dichotomy anyway? I notice that my Outlook defaults to demonstrate a region shaded for personal time and a region bright white for work time. So I guess balance is the edge between the bright white and the shaded dark area that is my personal life? Hmm. What if I reject that notion all together. What would it take to be a person that just does not care about the time and schedule. Care only about Sun up and Sun down. It would take an edge dancer.
A person who has true balance is always dancing on the edge of disaster. The fine edge between chaos and order. A balanced person may seem at peace, but in reality they are in the eye of the storm. The calm that sets in while the whirlwind is spiraling out of control around them. The person that can find that time to be mindful in a time of chaos and ticking clocks is the person that dances on the edge, and is therefore perfectly balanced. The more free from schedule you get the more responsibility you have, the more risk you take.
Think about that for a minute. If you are being scheduled or have a schedule you are certainly not taking responsibility, someone else is. You are dependent on others for a schedule to be assigned. The more that is happening to you, the less balanced you can be. This is just the nature of it. How can you be in control, mindful, at ease with all the chaos around you if other people are scheduling you and demanding that you respond? The balanced person pursues ambitions in life that free them from the demands of others and puts themselves in the position of deciding the schedule.
An edge dancer starts the day with things they want to accomplish and accomplished them between waking and getting tired. So reject this notion that you have “to set aside time” for yourself. Blah! Double Blah! All my time is my own! All my time is for what is important to me! I dance on the edge of chaos. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Ok. I went a little insane there for a minute. Back to my regular established schedule.
Guy Reams
