Moderation is the key to everything

We’ve all heard the phrases “Slow down” or “Take it easy” and “Give it a shot” before. These usually are preceded by our behavior of eating too fast, working too hard, not being outgoing enough, or other similar habits. What others are simply saying is to moderate your behavior, if not you’ll have problems.

The immortal and renowned philosopher, Aristotle, once said, “Moderation in all things.” I decided to explore this concept and started with the polar opposites of life. I have to say, with so many opposing sides in the world, moderation in all things holds a good amount of truth.

Moderation can be used in everything that a person could possibly do. Without a sense of balance in your life, you can seem lost, confused, or frustrated with the way things are going.

This is especially important in college, where learning what your limits in life are really starts. For example, there are those who drink too much (but are not alcoholics), thus the solution may not be simply going cold turkey as that may result in a yo-yo effect. Learning self-control and restraint will allow such people the ability to enjoy drinking socially without going overboard.

Another example is the kind of people who yap and chatter all the time, which makes them seem irritable or rude. The answer to their imbalance is to tone down their talk and try to think before they talk. It won’t be easy, but it’ll work.

However, do not associate moderation with only restraining yourself. Exerting yourself is a part of moderation as well. In other words, restrain yourself from restraining yourself too much (let loose once in a while). Sometimes it’s okay to be a little outward. As the great Oscar Wilde once said, “Moderation in everything, including moderation.”

For example, if you stay in your dorm room all of the time or only with your own company of friends, why not try to go out and strike up a conversation with a new face? You don’t have to be the talk of the town, just come out of your shell.

How can a person understand and discover his or her limit without trying to push past it? Moderation helps with this. Let’s take weight lifting as a metaphor. If one lifts weights but never ventures more than a lift of ten pounds, their muscle strength won’t improve. One doesn’t have to jump straight to 100 pounds, but rather incrementally push yourself.

As I mentioned before with the people who drink too much, there are also those who don’t drink at all for fear they may become heavy drinkers. Yet as long as they can control themselves, they can go and enjoy a social drink and not worry about overdoing it.

The same applies to those who don’t talk much, and come off as timid or shy. They don’t have to go out and talk a mile a minute, but instead be confident enough to speak up more and be unafraid to voice their thoughts once and a while.

I myself have my own issues I have to face and moderate. Personally, I need to work on my time management. It seems that all I do is work, whether it is my full-time status as a student or my full-time status as a dishwasher at the cafeteria.

It is your turn now. Think about where you could moderate yourself in. Do you curse more than you should? Have you added on a busy schedule like myself? Are you always in a hurry?

It is important to be able to assess oneself, or no balance will be found.