Find Your Balance
What is the biggest struggle most, if not all, of us face?
I would venture that our main struggle is finding balance in our lives. I’d like to use a common analogy, “the three-legged stool,” to help you find and maintain a healthy balance in daily life.
Let’s look at three areas where we all should focus on maintaining a healthy life balance.
Keep in mind:
If you break a leg of the stool or one leg is shorter than the others, you’re going down!
This stool is made up of three areas where we focus our energy:
- Faith
- Family/friends
- Work
These priorities are what make our lives complete.
In my opinion, they can be placed in any order as each should have equal emphasis to balance our stool.
Keep reading to learn how to find your balance in life.
Let’s consider work first
Since we’re all here through our relationship with AADOM, let’s take a look at our work leg of the stool.
Work can be both fulfilling and draining at the same time.
Our careers allow us to utilize the talents we have been given and to provide for ourselves and our families.
This honors our commitment to being our very best selves and brings the fulfillment we desire from life.
Boundaries are, of course, key as we think about work.
AADOM helps us become the best we can be in our dental manager jobs by providing continuing education for dental managers, collaboration, and relationships with others who are just like us, facing the same triumphs and struggles.
It’s important that we maintain a healthy view of our work and establish boundaries.
For me, this has always been difficult because I’m a focused, task-oriented, and success-driven person.
However, over the 43 years of working in a dental practice, I have learned that my work will consume me if I allow it.
To stay balanced on my stool, I’ve had to learn to leave work at work and be present for my family and friends.
We need to be focused while at work and excel in serving our patients and our team.
When it’s time to leave the office, we need to do that and leave our work there.
The second leg: family and friends
That second leg of the stool is the relationships that we have been given in life.
Family and friends enrich our lives and make us better as dental office managers.
Nurturing those relationships is sometimes challenging when we are balancing everything on our stool.
However, if we ignore our relationships, we may find ourselves without the support system we need.
Additionally, the day will come when we’re no longer working, and we’ll wish we had spent more time nurturing meaningful relationships.
The people we have in our lives bring us fulfillment, provide encouragement, and serve as confidants.
We’re all meant to be in relationships.
Don’t let work consume your time to the detriment of your relationships. It simply isn’t worth it.
Faith provides a framework
The final leg of our stool is faith.
It’s important to spend time practicing our faith.
This piece of our life defines how we view our:
- World
- Work
- Relationships
It provides a framework for treating others, dealing with conflict, and the challenges we face.
Faith also provides a path for rest, reflection, and recharging of our batteries when the rest of life drains us of joy.
Faith helps us to put everything in perspective.
We can practice our faith throughout our day, either at work or home; however, it requires us to focus our time and energy solely on it.
Find your balance
If we place equal emphasis on the three legs of our stool, we can experience a more balanced, complete, fulfilled life.
We can be better leaders in our practices, and we can be better spouses, parents, friends, etc., in the relationships we share.
In this fast-paced world, everyone is looking for a better balance in their life.
If we live with intentionality and work to keep each leg of our stool solid, we will find that balance.
Meet the Author
Karol Peters, RDH, MAADOM graduated from Lamar University in 1978. She began working for Dr. M. H. Peters Jr… This text opens a new tab to the practice’s website… as his first hygienist. Today, the two of them have been happily married for over 42 years.
Karol has worked in all aspects of private practice and is currently the managing director.
Her experience with management software training has allowed her to work in areas such as conducting fraud exams in dental practices.
In 2021, Karol was inducted as an AADOM Master.
She and her husband live in the NASA area of the Texas Gulf Coast with their two Maltese, Lola and Dixie. She enjoys her involvement in church activities, mission trips, and traveling.
