The Well Balanced (or At Least Occasionally Well Balanced) World Changer
This week some funny Twitter users have been passing around the hashtag #AddaWordRuinaChristianBook.
They insert one new word into an existing book title to make it funnier.
So of course one day I looked in my Facebook feed and saw this:
I laughed. (There’s some special irony there since I’m a human-beanpole.)
But really, I could’ve changed the title myself.
To say, The Unbalanced World Changer or The Re-Balanced World Changer or The Barely Balanced World-Changer. Because nearly every time I am interviewed, someone asks if I consider myself well balanced now. And I find myself saying the same thing every time: the truth.
No. I don’t think I could sell myself as THE or even “a” Well Balanced World Changer.
The truth is I am more balanced now than I’ve ever been before. And I hope I’m on track to be more balanced years from now than I am today.
But balance isn’t a permanent state.
You find balance. You get your footing. You’re steady for a while.
But life keeps moving. Or at least I hope it does. You don’t want things to stay static. So you pursue some new ideas, take on some new projects, build some new relationships, and suddenly as you begin juggling more or heavier objects, your weight is displaced and you’re a little off-center again.
I still get unbalanced.
Just in the past seven days, I can think of times where I’ve completely operated out of selfishness, where I’ve failed to set healthy boundaries, where I’ve absent-mindedly forgotten what day it was and failed to take my son to preschool. Whoops.
The idea of collecting the wisdom in The Well Balanced World Changer is not to arrive at perfection, but to expand the tools we have for managing our lives. To absorb new habits that, over the long term, become patterns and practices that lend health to our leadership rhythms.
We won’t ever be perfectly balanced (or at least I won’t). But even though we still slip up, we’ll slip up less. And when we slip, we’ll recognize it faster and recover more quickly. We’ll spend more time in steadiness and health.
If you haven’t tried The Well Balanced World Changer yet, now would be a great time to give it a try.
You can get the paperback version for between $10-12 on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or anywhere books are sold. And for a limited time, the Kindle version is under $4–which is a special price that will be around only for the launch.
If you’re in that “I’m thinking about it” or “I’ll get it eventually” stage, you can also read a little more about the book in these posts:
- 5 Myths of Current Christian Culture That Detract From Faith
- 7 Tips for Avoiding Burnout While Investing In Your Charitable Cause or Ministry
- An Interview with Jenni Catron
- An Interview with Lindsey Nobles
- An Interview with Tom Krattenmaker
- An Excerpt on Red Letter Christians
- An Interview on the Revangelical Podcast
- An Excerpt In Which Sarah Bessey Shared About The Book
The Well Balanced World Changer is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever books are sold. You can also find great shareable content at the book’s Pinterest page. And you can contribute your own life lessons to an online collection of wisdom using the hashtag #worldchangerbook.
Jen October 9, 2013 (1:02 pm)
I just found your website. I love your thoughts. With 4 kids I am on a quest to become more balance, but I needed the reminded that life keeps moving and therefore life will become unbalanced until new rhythms are found.
Sarah October 9, 2013 (5:39 pm)
Jen, great to hear from you. I hope there’s something here that connects with you and I’ll check out your blog too. Have a great day. :)