A few weeks ago, I was at World Race Launch living in a hotel with all the Squads that we were about to send out into the world. For me, It was a week of training those who were asked to take on roles as Logistics Leaders and Treasurers on their Squads.
One night, I was asked to go out and grab a bite to eat after training had wrapped up for the day. That same morning, I had decided to sleep in rather than getting up and doing Insanity for the day. I was feeling guilty, so I chose not to go out to eat and head up to the hotel “gym” to work out instead.
While I was walking back to my hotel room from working out, these words popped into my head: “Living a life of balance brings freedom”. God never speaks to me so audibly, so at first, I was like, “Whaaaaa?” Then, I really started meditating on those words.
For the last two years, I’ve been on the World Race where my schedule had been different every single day. When I moved down here to Gainesville, GA to work at Adventures In Missions, I wasn’t expecting how difficult it’d be to work a 9-5 job every day after being routine-less for so long. I’m not gonna lie. It’s hard, and I started out hating it.
I’d find any excuse to go home early or leave my desk every 15 minutes. I gotta pee. I gotta fill up my water. I gotta go say “hi” to Kate. You name it. I did it.
Another struggle is fitting my personal life around work life. I like working out, so I started going to the gym after work, but then, I wasn’t getting home until 7:00 and was missing out on dinner or hang out sessions with my pals. I was having a hard time fitting in my time with the Lord every day. How am I going to watch all of my Netflix shows? I know. It sounds stupid, but WHAT DO I DO?
God told me to get up early.
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
After my fit, I started waking up earlier than normal to spend time God and do Insanity at home. I hate working out early in the morning, but sometimes, you have to do what you hate to see breakthrough.
Since I’ve been waking up early, I’ve yet to stress about when I’m going to work out, when I’ll be able to read my Bible, when I’m going to have to time to relax, and when I’ll be able to spend time with my friends. Living a balanced life has made everything fall into place.
I’ve experienced so much freedom.
It took effort on the front end to make this balanced life work. Waking up early sucked for awhile. I was tired for a solid two weeks before I started seeing changes, but I knew it would be worth it.
Through all of this, I’ve learned true freedom takes discipline which seems to be contradictory. It doesn’t make sense, but hey, my life never seems to make sense. I’m okay with it.
