Testing the Theory: Exercising Moderation

“Moderation in everything, even moderation.” – Oscar Wilde

In my previous five posts, I talked about the areas in life that should be in working order in order to achieve a well-balanced life. Of course, this is theoretical, and in practice it is far more difficult to keep balanced over the course of a given day or week.

Oscar Wilde once said that there should be “moderation in everything, even moderation.” My life is an example of that, as I’m spending more time working in the intellectual section than normal in pursuit of my MBA. However, it’s not as though I’m allowed to create or be granted extra time in my day in order to achieve a balanced life. I get 24 hours per day, as do you, as does everyone else on this planet.

The fact of the matter is that change is important for growth – but not too much of it at one time. If a person overindulges in growth experiences, then he or she will likely not metabolize as much of the benefits that the scenario has to offer. So while change is certainly a catalyst for future growth, any opportunity to grow significantly in one or two areas should only be undertaken with the personal understanding that there will be a sacrifice in other areas of life. And such an opportunity should also be undertaken with the expectation to make significant deposits at a later time, hopefully not too far in the distant future. Big, short-to-medium-term change in one or two areas – requires need for constancy in the other three or four.

So let’s move back to my example. In order to make accelerated gains in one section (intellectual challenge), I have to sacrifice growth in other areas. I’m blessed to not need to work a full-time job during this experience, so that can be an area of sacrifice to a point, but not too much because searching for work is also a time-cost (and I certainly have bills to pay too). It also means that on specific days, I have less time to spend on relationships that could use nurturing – but no person is an island. I’m committed to spending some time being active, but that can only be used for maintenance.

The fact is that people have varying degrees of greed by nature. But it is important to be cognizant of that greed, in order to keep it from running rampant. One could easily argue that a little bit of greed can be a good thing, as it will allow a person to improve, either through one’s circumstances or one’s general growth. However, overindulgence can take these gains away over time. This is why continued contributions (or maintenance) in growth areas can be obtained through exercising moderation in all things, even in moderation.