You Don’t Need to “Level Up,” You Need BALANCE

Yes, I know. I got sucked into the manifestation craze. Leveling up my life, seeing all my wildest dreams blossom before my eyes… it was my main goal for several years.

But it was like a sucker punch to the gut to come back to the internet after a year and half away to discover people promoting “AI hacks for manifestation” and similarly cuckoo products and courses that presumably… sell.

Is this truly what we’ve become? What was once the spiritual community got into a torrid affair with capitalism and has become something so distorted and warped that I don’t recognize it.

I’m here to offer up a reality check to those who believe that they need to level up their lives, hustle, and manifest until they’re coughing up diamonds. You don’t need to level up. You need to find balance in your life through a combination of small achievements, gratitude, and community.

Your feelings of contentment and fulfillment will skyrocket, trust me! Let me explain.

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What Does It Mean to Level Up Your Life?

“Leveling up” is a philosophy of growth and well-being that prioritizes noticeable progress, success, and personal improvement in any or all areas of life. (I use the Level 10 model, which includes 1) personal relationship, 2) personal development, 3) family & friends, 4) giving & contributing, 5) health & fitness, 6) finances, 7) career & business, 8) recreation/fun, 9) physical environment, 10) faith/spirituality.)

Leveling up and optimizing your life is popular because of social media. Seeing others do something and wanting to compete gives us that drive. Then an achievement gives us a boost of dopamine that we all so desperately want! (Some more than others!)

Let me be clear: growth and development are a good thing! I would never want to discourage someone from going after their goals!

However, uninhibited, constant growth is UNHEALTHY. Do you know what we call uncontrolled growth in the body? CANCER.

Constant “Leveling Up” isn’t sustainable

Unchecked capitalism is a cancer on our society, and they’re suckering you in when you get so obsessed with leveling up and optimizing your life that you forget one thing:

You’re a human being having a human experience. When you optimize your life into oblivion, you lose your humanity.

You’re not a robot. Continuous “leveling up” isn’t possible. At some point, you’re going to break. You’re going to fail. You’re going to get burnt out!

Heck, you’re going to get BORED!

But more than that, you simply can’t always control your “leveling up.”

Sample Scenario

Let’s create a scenario for the sake of explanation.

You’re winning at life, a boss bitch who has been promoted, winning awards, and getting book deals. You’ve never been healthier, you have a successful boyfriend, a beautiful home, and you feel like you’re at the top of your game. You have no plan to change ANYTHING about your life.

But suddenly, you get a call from your mother that she has stage four pancreatic cancer and is going to pass away soon. Your options are: 1) put a hold on all your achievements and beautiful life to travel to where she lives and care for her for a few weeks or months until she passes, feeling guilty that you’re not at work, OR 2) she’s going to pass away anyway, so visit for a weekend and go back to your life, experiencing extreme guilt that you’re not there for your mother.

Either way, you’re going to be experiencing frustration and guilt, and then you’ll have to process the heavy emotions and grief of losing your mother.

It’s a Kobayashi Maru. It’s a situation you can’t win. More importantly, it’s a situation you can’t control.

Loss of control means loss of leveling up. And because you’re not leveling up, you’re going to feel like you’re failing.

Balance vs. Leveling Up

The solution to leveling up isn’t to let it all go or give it up. It’s to find balance.

So much of our life is simply reacting to things we have no control over. In these situations we don’t choose, situations that happen to us, where does the growth happen?

We grow and learn from these situations when we’re present with the moment.

When we are chasing the next thing, we often lose the big picture… how our choices and decisions impact the community around us. Because contrary to what capitalism would like us to think, we’re not an island. We’re interconnected in ways that we often forget.

Finding balance between achievement and the present moment allows us to move and flow with the course of our life, especially in the face of no-win situations we can’t control.

It allows us to release frustration. We can hold our goals gently, and we allow flexibility.

RELATED POST: 64 Simple Joys of Life to Cherish

What Does It Take to Have Balance Instead of Leveling Up?

Finding balance is a life philosophy that requires courage, discernment, and discipline. It allow for both ambition AND flow.

Consider these questions:

1. What truly matters right now?
2. How can I be flexible in this moment?
3. What emotions am I holding onto right now?
4. What aspects of my life support my goals?
5. What aspects of my life support my well-being?

Here’s the truth:

Balance keeps you grounded while you grow.

Balance can help you build a foundation for a life filled with achievement AND sustainability.

12 Affirmations for Life Balance

Try these affirmations when you feel you’re caught up in the rat-race and need a firm hand or a guided breath.

1. I make space for all my emotions.
2. Balance begins with choice.
3. I come home to myself again and again.
4. I give myself permission to grow at my own pace.
5. I create a life that is aligned to my values.
6. I honor the ebbs and flows of life.
7. I allow myself to rest without guilt.
8. I trust the pace of my life.
9. I live in the present moment.
10. I release what I can’t control.
11. I return to what grounds me.
12. I balance myself and my community.
13. Each part of my life supports the others.
14. I live in harmony and balance.
15. I am centered, even in chaos.
16. I release the need to be perfect.
17. I embrace wholeness.
18. Each action I take intentionally cultivates balance.
19. I am balanced, emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually.
20. I can hold both ambition and rest, both joy and grief.

Conclusion

When I stopped manifesting, my life got infinitely better. When I stopped worrying about leveling up my life, I was able to pause and look back to realize just how much I had already accomplished!

Always looking toward the next thing limits your perspective and closes you off to things that might bring a deeper level of emotional fulfillment.

That’s why I’ve decided to stop “leveling up” and just simply BE!

You Don’t Need to “Level Up,” You Need BALANCE