Baaaaaaalance.

Balance: Mental or emotional equilibrium.

We talked about balance in our meeting last night. I had to look the word up this morning because I have no idea what it means. For me, balance is what occurs when I spend an equal amount of time at the extreme ends of whatever spectrum I'm currently navigating. For instance, exercise compulsively or take a month off. Work 60 hours or disappear for a while. Dessert tonight? A prune or 47 Oreos buried in chocolate chip ice cream.

I always joke that I have two speeds: off or full acceleration. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do something. I'm completely engaged. You got all of my attention. In some weird regard this can be OK. I get a lot done. But I've had to learn how to step out of the wildly spinning machinery and take a breath. If my knee is swollen to the size of a watermelon and is oozing blood and is throbbing with sharp pain, maybe I can skip the daily run. Nah, come to think of it, maybe I'll take tomorrow off.

A.A. has taught me how to strike a balance . . . sometimes.