Striking a Balance

Meenakshi was a young, dynamic and intelligent girl. Though she was in class 9^th, she was very much aware of her surroundings due to her inquisitive nature. Her habit of questioning a lot, sometimes irked her teachers, parents and her friends. Nevertheless, she was teacher’s pet, friends favourite as she was very knowledgeable and amiable. Meenakshi was a star of The Cherry Blossom High School.

The school announced scholarship from class 10^th onwards and the students had to present on the topic “Balance”. The student with the best presentation would be awarded the scholarship. Most of the students were clueless as to from where to begin and where to end for such an abstract topic. However, Meenakshi was crystal clear in her head about it and also focussed towards the scholarship.

Maintaining balance is essential in all walks of life

• Her presentation began with the 1^st slide on: Balanced Lifestyle, the importance of the same and the effects of imbalanced lifestyle.                   

She talked about, work-life balance leads to happy and stress free life. One of the students asked her the effects of imbalance in work-life. 

Meenakshi promptly said that too much work can damage mental and physical health with problems such as anxiety, depression, back and neck pain, chest pain etc.

Having too much free and leisure time have disadvantages such as boredom, procrastination, lack of focus and discipline and even anxiety.

• In the next slide Meenakshi spoke about: Balanced diet, since the presentation was about balance in all spheres of life.

1. Excess of protein: metabolic burden on kidneys, liver and bone and risk of coronary heart disease 
2. Too much of carbs: weight gain, poor metabolic health and increased risk of heart disease
3. Excessive intake of high fat foods can increase weight and cause heart disease and other health problems.

Seeing this presentation other students of the class 9^th realised that how a simple word “balance” holds immense power and position in life.

• In the next slide she presented balance in relationships: too much and too little involvement in any relationship gives lot of emotional stress and pain. 

• Meenakshi ’s next slide was on Ecological Balance: It is a balance of nature or a state of dynamic equilibrium for the stability of organisms and environment. An imbalanced state can cause vast devastation over a period of time.

Cause: Air & water pollution, Deforestation and Encroachment of mountains, forests, land and seas for human habitat

Cause: Air & water pollution, Deforestation and Encroachment of mountains, forests, land and seas for human habitat Effect: Global warming & Extinction of species, Water shortage, Natural calamities and Infectious diseases & Respiratory problems  

“Is there any Balance for thinking also?” asked one of the students.

“Of course” said Meenakshi as she told that if we think of more about negative thoughts it might leave us in lack of focus, concentration and take us down to worrying about the same thought. She gave an example, if we have an exam and keep having negative thoughts about it we might not pay focus towards the chapter finally resulting in poor test result.

Negative thinking can lead to anxiety (a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It might cause you to sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat.) 

Just like anything done in excess can cause problems, too much positivity can trivialize a person’s pain. Suppressed emotions can lead to more stress on the body and brain. Rather than being able to share genuine human emotions and gain unconditional support, people who are faced with toxic positivity find their feelings dismissed, ignored, or outright invalidated.

With this Meenakshi ended her presentation with a big THANK YOU!  Making all the students and teachers realise the importance of balance in our life. Meenakshi won the scholarship as awarded by the principal.

Disclaimer: the content is representation of my thoughts and understanding with no intention to cause harm and pain to anyone.