I am sitting here in my office overlooking MIT, the Charles River and most importantly, Fenway Park; it is 9pm and I’m waiting for my Dad to call from Dulles airport to tell me he is finally airborne enroute to Boston for his weekend visit. I am using the time to try to get ready for our annual Limited Partner (LPs give $$ to us VCs so we can then give it to entrepreneurs) meeting early next week; family visits never come at a great time, but they are priceless nonetheless.
My desk is piled full of various stacks of stuff; a CEO search for one company, a term sheet for another, two massive due diligence files on potential new investments and who knows what else. It often feels like there is no way that I can possibly get all, or even part of what I need to get done. Worse yet, how amidst all that work can I find time to do what I really love doing, namely writing for my Blog or other asundry activities like sleeping?
The best thing about being here at this time of night (ok, the only good thing) is that I can jam my radio as loud as I care to, and ironically the wisdom of the current tune compels me to “Just Breathe”. I do yoga fairly regularly; in fact, I went to a class just last night; it was my birthday and that was how I wanted to spend my evening so Julie and I humped it down to the Baptiste Studio in Cambridge. Yoga is largely about breathing into the challenge of the pose so as to not give into the discomfort of the moment.
Yoga teachers have a variety of instructional approaches which are some combination of drill sergeant, philosopher and little league coach. Last night’s teacher, Coeli (they all have interesting names) was particularly ponderous and one comment she made really stood out to us…”It is often inconvenient to live a balanced life.”
Simple, but profound, and so true. It is almost always easier to diverge to excess in one direction or another. Balance is difficult, and fleeting at best. In the go-go times we live in, striving for balance often feels like we are giving up the competitive edge against our all-consumed rivals. However, in those precious, quiet moments at the end of a good yoga session, I know deep inside that achieving the ever-transitory state of being grounded and centered is the real prize. Trick is how to accomplish that amidst the chaos of modern life?! I think the song offers a good starting point…
“Breathe, just breathe…”
And thanks to my good Bud Nick Edwards for prompting me to get off my arse and start blogging again just as the song came on…
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