She picked up the red balloon and we went outside to play. We laughed as we would hit the balloon as high as we could but tried to not let it hit the ground. Kind of felt like my old volleyball days, except much slower!

We lunged closer to the grass as we chased the balloon.

The balloon hit a blade of grass and that’s all it took to pop.

My three year old was startled and cried, but thankfully I had a bag of birthday balloons. I blew up another one to keep the game going.

YOUR LIFE IS LIKE A BALLOON

The more I filled the balloon, the thinner it became, and easier it was to pop.

“Wow, that balloon is so much like me right now!”

If only we didn’t feel the need to fill it as full as it could possibly be. How about deflate the balloon a little bit and get some more playtime?

Imagine if we lived life like that. Imagine living with more space in our minds, instead it being completely occupied like that bursting balloon.

DON’T BE THAT BALLOON

If you are, no judgement. I get it.

I find myself there often, and am sensitive enough to reevaluate before I am the one popping! Right?

Deflate a little.  Just a little.

Get some more headspace.

Take off some pressure.

Laugh a little more.

Be a little less intense.

Practice gratitude and lower your stress levels.

We don’t anticipate stress.  It hits us out of nowhere. We sign up for things all while juggling life and putting out fires all day.  We think we are in a ‘good place’ when we take some things off our plate, but immediately replace it with something else. I am soooo guilty of that!

While I am not asking you to be a beach bum with no dreams or goals, I am challenging your balloon blowing flexibility. You don’t want to pop, but you also don’t want to completely give up either and be some weak blubbery balloon flailing in the wind either.

The balloon needs to deflate just a little.  Your mind and life needs a little headspace or a little wiggle room, or else you will pop with the slightest prick.

I mainly work with people who want the most out of life, as do I!  Those kind of people aren’t interested in sitting on the couch for hours every day.  They WANT their balloon as full as possible while still enjoying it.  They want to fly high, have perspective from above, and not stress about a simple thing popping them. It’s a fine line sometimes.

I know because that’s me, too and there isn’t anything wrong with that… except the popping part.

All photos from this post are by Staley.

HOW TO LIVE A FULL LIFE WITHOUT POPPING

I just want to say, YES YOU CAN.

I get it, you want to do all the things.  You want to be successful, happy, strong, healthy, spiritual, in love, etc, etc.

It’s a constant balancing act that can have you stressed out to the max. You can feel like that over-inflated balloon ready to pop.

It’s time to revaluate and maybe be a little less intense, and a whole lot more joy. Heck yes.

KEEP STRESS LOW AND PERFORMANCE HIGH

When you keep piling on the stress, and seeing how far you can stretch that balloon, it’s not going to take much to pop it at all. Rest, retreats, exercise, massage, morning routines, meditation, prayer, and other self-care forms are crucial to balancing your balloon.

I recently shared in this post how I went on a simple drive to reset my mind.  Having moments like that allow your mind to heal and breathe.  It gives yourself some space to perform better.  Pushing hard without recovery time will leave you as one miserably injured athlete, one overworked business man who isn’t performing like he used to, on his way to awful health repercussions, intense personality, and weaker relationships because of it.

So if you want to get back in the game to live life to the fullest, and without popping from stress, you need a more holistic perspective.

A more holistic perspective that the highest performers from around the world have a few practices that help them become that way.

(They weren’t born like that, it didn’t just plop down on their laps, and it was not overnight success.  Only bitter and jealous hearts say that.  If that’s you, clean that toxic crap out right now before it pulls you down any further.  Read How to Deal With Toxins Here and deal with ASAP.)

INCREASE JOY IN EVERY AREA OF YOUR LIFE TO PERFORM HIGHER

What if you laid off the intensity of that balloon?  What if it wasn’t stretch too thin?

Would you enjoy life a little more? Be a little less intense? Maybe not on the verge of popping at the next thing?

Revaluate like the highest performers around the world do by checking in on your ten main areas of your life.

Coming from the fitness industry, I’ve watched people become obsessed and swallowed up by their own obsession, that their other areas dried up.  What good is a fit body if you have miserable relationships and hate your career?  What good is obsessing about your macros and calories if your marriage dissolves while your face was crammed in your phone calculating every morsel, and your kid grew up by the time you looked away from your phone.  This is why I teach and coach people how to get fit without obsessing over it.

Being a maxed out balloon really hurts… when it meets a single blade of grass and explodes.

The truth really freaking hurts sometimes, but you can always reevaluate.

HOW TO REEVALUATE

The highest performers around the world look at ten main areas of their life.  It’s not just financial.  It’s not just fitness either.

There are TEN.

To deflate the intensity of your balloon a little, look at all ten areas.

“Now, Bailey, that stresses me out even more to think I have to reevaluate TEN areas,” you are thinking?

No, don’t think of it that way.  Don’t think of it as another thing to do, or another thing to add to your list that you just don’t have time for.  This is stuff that increases your overall wellness, health, success, performance, and JOY.

You perform higher when you do things like that.

Stress levels decrease.

Happiness increases.

All good things, right?

Your balloon can be a little less intense. You aren’t so easy to pop whether you are by yourself, with your team, wife, kids, or on social media. (Hello, keyboard cowboys, that means you!)

RATE YOUR TEN AREAS OF LIFE

1. Health
2. Mission/Work
3. Marriage/Intimate Partner
4. Family
5. Friends
6. Finances
7. Adventure
8. Hobby
9. Spirituality
10. Emotional Intelligence

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR TEN AREAS

Author and the worlds leading high performance coach, Brendon Buchard who works with celebrities, executives, and Olympians are all challenged with these 10 areas.  You can be so focused on your work, that you’ve lost meaning in it, at least, until you look at all 10 areas again.

You have perhaps forgotten the importance of adventure or learning a new hobby. Your spirituality has maybe been dimmed a little.  Your marriage isn’t as healthy as it could be.

However, when you look at these ten areas, Buchard encourages everyone he works with, to rate their joy in each area every single Sunday. Not only rate it, but make goals in each area to increase the joy.

Do you know what joy can do?

It can help soften that intense balloon of yours so you can finally enjoy the game without life passing you by. You won’t be so easily popped.  It’s a weight off your shoulders.  It’s a feeling of lightness where that balloon can stay afloat and enjoy the ride a little more.

So before you pop, revaluate your ten areas! If it’s easier to do this in person, stay in contact for future events and retreats.

GO DEEPER WITH ME

For more in depth study of the high performance life, check out my master course. See what other professionals are saying. I’d love to guide you through it in more detail. You’ll get more guidance and enjoy it more. Let’s do this!

WHAT IS YOUR STRONGEST AREA?

So what about you? Of those ten areas, which one do you think you have the highest amount of joy in? Let me know in the comments below!