Season 3 Ep. 110: Redefining Balance

Welcome Back and Welcome to Season 3 of the Healthy Balanced Mama Podcast!

I am so excited to have you all back for another season of the podcast- I have SO many incredible interviews and solo episodes in store for you, we have guests coming on to talk about everything from packing healthier school lunches, creating more simplicity in our schedules, having a growth mindset as a mom, homeschooling, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum as well as topics on food freedom, financial freedom, meal planning, meal prep and SO much more. I can NOT wait. I know this season is going to be a good one! Today I want to kick off Season 3 talking about what it means to REDEFINE balance. I shared a little of my journey and mindset shifts over the past year about what it means to eat and live intuitively, and truly embrace freedom with food. But something that I’ve been hearing a ton from women, especially in the personal development world, is that ‘balance is a myth’. I wrote a blog post about this, this summer and I really wanted to share more about that with you. Because I don’t believe balance is a myth- I believe we need to REDEFINE what we have made balance out to be.

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Transcript:

Hey there friends, welcome back to the podcast and welcome back to season three!

I hope you all enjoyed the replays of some of our best-of episodes, I know I enjoyed going back and listening to them as well. SO much wisdom and freedom in those episodes, and a great segue into a new season of the podcast.

If you’re a brand new listener, welcome! I am so excited to have you here. As you heard in our (new, yay!) introduction, I’m Kristin Dovbniak- I’m a holistic health coach, culinary nutritionist, cert. intuitive eating counselor, trained chef, mama of two sweet and spunky little ladies with about a dozen nicknames each, but we’ll call them Sage and Wren, wife to a professional sailor- the racing kind, not the military kind, though, we are friends with a lot of those around here living around the corner from a navy base and we currently live on an island off the coast of New England. I’m also your host of the healthy balanced mama podcast and I love to share about what it means to redefine balance in every area- eating, moving and living our healthiest, happiest lives. And that, my friends- is what Season 3 is going to be all about. Embracing your beautiful balance in every area, in every season. If you haven’t yet listened to my season 2 finale episode (I’ll link it in the show notes), I shared a little of what’s to come for season 3, but I wanted to share with you here, as well. We have guests coming on to talk about everything from packing healthier school lunches, creating more simplicity in our schedules, having a growth mindset as a mom, homeschooling, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum as well as topics on food freedom, financial freedom, meal planning, meal prep and SO much more. I can NOT wait.

Today I want to kick off Season 3 talking about what it means to REDEFINE balance. I shared a little of my journey and mindset shifts over the past year about what it means to eat and live intuitively, and truly embrace freedom with food. But something that I’ve been hearing a ton from women, especially in the personal development world, is that ‘balance is a myth’. I wrote a blog post about this, this summer and I really wanted to share more about that with you. Because I don’t believe balance is a myth- I believe we need to REDEFINE what we have made balance out to be.

Because balance, as many of us know it, myself in the past included- IS impossible.

Balance, as many of us know it and are striving for is actually a different way of striving for perfection- in this case, striving for equal attention in every area of our lives.

The same goes for our eating. What we call ‘balance’ is often an idealistic picture of eating unusually well throughout the week and just opting for an ice cream cone with your kids for your ‘cheat’ on the weekend, or maybe some chips and salsa on date night (and then ordering a salad because you should, because, of course, #balance).

But what if you don’t want the salad on date night?

What if you get invited to go for ice cream with friends on a Wednesday?

What does #balance turn into then?

If you say yes to that thing you’ve decided isn’t ‘balanced’… Is it an all-out excuse to eat whatever the rest of the week, without taking into consideration what would actually feel good… or a reason to skip your ‘cheat’ that weekend and miss out on what would have been a great experience with your kids?

This, friends, is not balance!

Balance isn’t static, and there is no one right way to eat and live in a way that is balanced.

Some weeks, balance in our home looks like perfectly split days between work and family time, I’m super present with the kids and super present with my clients and podcast guests and everything just feels cool as a cucumber and we end with a great date night on a patio with a great glass of wine… that was last week and it was GREAT but I’ve got to tell you, it is not the norm.

Other weeks (more typical weeks) we have days that feel great (Monday felt like a good one, where I spent the morning really present in my work and the afternoon hanging with my kiddo and grocery shopping, and the evening with ladies in The Supermama Society) and then there are days where it feels like an ongoing flip-flip between my husband and myself, work and kids, trying to maintain the house (let’s be real- TRYING). As long as I am staying as present and intentional as I can be in each role, I believe BOTH these to be balanced.

The same as weeks where we cook nearly all of our meals at home, including pizza night and just grab takeout for date night… and the ones where we get takeout, pizza and go out to eat all in one week. Though my budget doesn’t feel as balanced at the end of those weeks, they are BOTH balance to me. And they can be, to you to.

We simply need to REDEFINE what balance looks like, to us.

I used to think of having a healthy balance as a sort of see-saw, with food on one side and movement on the other, something we needed to constantly work on evening out. I think a lot of women have a similar view of health and wellness.

But what I’ve come to learn and practice over a decade in the health and wellness world, is that health is SO much more than just food and movement. It’s holistic- 360 degrees. It’s not JUST physical health, but mental/emotional health, spiritual health, relational health.

In this proverbial pie chart of health, the goal would be that each area is even- but that’s not life, that’s not realistic. Balance happens over time. The areas are meant to shift, sometimes some taking up more space than others- and when one area is off, or getting too small- that’s simply an indicator that we need to pay more attention to that area.

In the same vein, when one area is affecting the other areas or taking up too much space, it’s a signal that something needs to change.

When we redefine balance from needing to look a certain way, to approaching health as a holistic entity, with flexibility- we can find ease and grace in living a healthy life.

Balance isn’t math equation to be figured out, but a constant state of intentional awareness and adjustment towards our healthiest selves.

Food is just ONE part of the equation- but eating in a balanced way is a powerful catalyst for creating balance in our lives. WHEN we are eating in a balanced way, we are no longer stressing over every bite– or eating mindlessly and haphazardly, we’re eating with intention and allowing food to serve us well as a source of energy, health, and connection.

This is what I wanted to start this season off with, because I think it really encompasses what I want to share here- balance, in EVERY area of our life.

Thank you friend, so much for tuning in today, I have two more episodes to kick off this first week of S3 and I think you’re going to love them!

If you haven’t joined my free meal planning challenge this September, what are you waiting for?! Join us for four weeks of meal planning bliss- meal planning you’ll actually stick with, beyond the end of the month. Head to healthymamakris.com/plan to join for free.

Have a beautiful couple of days and I’ll talk to you again, soon!

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