A Lesson Learned from Nik Wallenda

Wake up, go to work, bill hours, volunteer, answer personal emails, return personal calls, get together with friends and family, enjoy hobbies when possible, eat, sleep, repeat. Managing daily life is a balancing act that often feels like a complex high wire routine. Usually, I maintain a pretty good equilibrium by ensuring each element gets the right amount of attention to make the rest of the routine work. Unfortunately, when things get hectic and I start to lose balance, my social life is the first element to suffer.

When I started graduate school this year, the social impact was immediate. Suddenly, the majority of my already limited free time was spent attending class, reading and doing homework. Free Saturdays were reduced to once a month, and open weeknights became a rarity. My equilibrium was off and along with trying to remember how to be a student again, I realized I was faced with a dilemma of how to maintain a social life and attend school at the same time.

While pondering the solution, a revelation came to me from a very unlikely source. A few weeks ago I was sucked into watching a seemingly ridiculous segment on the “Today” show where “famous” daredevil Nik Wallenda performed a live, death defying hire wire stunt. At one point, a sudden gust of wind nearly blew him off the wire. Nik paused for what seemed like an eternity, then successfully completed his walk. Later, when asked about how he overcame the near death experience, Nik indicated he simply had to refocus, rebalance and get moving again.

Now, I wouldn’t say that Nik was oozing with wisdom, but thinking back on this I did learn a lesson – harmonizing my social life with graduate school is all about modifying my routine, regaining my balance and moving forward. It’s that simple.

Number fifty-six