Finding My Balance

The past few weeks, I’ve been juggling what feels like waaay too much for the average 20-year-old girl to do during the summer. I’ve got a part-time job, summer classes, LSAT prep, and what I like to think is, a pretty decent social life. But it’s not easy; I’ve been struggling to find balance… both literally and figuratively.

Some weeks, I clock close to 30 hours at work and spend every free minute studying. I barely go outside. Even my workouts stay confined to my apartment gym. I don’t see anyone. I don’t talk to anyone. And when I finally come up for air, I feel completely disconnected. So the next week, I swing in the opposite direction: no extra shifts, more time with friends, spontaneous movie nights, and slow mornings. But then I feel behind on school. The guilt creeps in, and the cycle starts all over again.

Last week at physical therapy, my therapist Christian challenged me with some new exercises: single-leg balance drills. And I crumbled. I couldn’t do it. Despite making great progress with quad strength, range of motion, and flexibility, I couldn’t hold myself steady on one foot.

“You’re not focused,” he said.

And it hit me. That was exactly the problem, not just in physical therapy, but in life. I was struggling to balance everything because I wasn’t truly focused on anything. I was trying to do it all, all the time, and somewhere along the way I forgot to be present.

Balance doesn’t mean doing everything at once. It means knowing when to shift your weight. Knowing what deserves your attention in each moment, and being all-in on that. Maybe it means being okay with skipping a night out if your body needs rest. Or saying no to a shift because your brain needs time to study, or breathe. It means giving yourself grace for the weeks that feel heavier, and patience when progress feels slow.

This summer is still a balancing act. Some days I wobble, some days I fall. But I’m learning to steady myself—one foot, and one moment, at a time.

What my bag has been looking like lately