Balance

I came to the conclusion this week at the gym that I have not been pushing myself enough. Now, I am a regular at the gym and even though sickness laid me off a lot in the last 2 months. I work hard and I'm in good shape; I run 10-20 miles a week- that's pushing yourself enough, isn't it?
Yesterday, I reaffirmed for myaelf that it isn't.
I was doing abs (which I hate and have done 3 of the last 5 days) and found myself pushing super hard for the last 10, then I let out a deep sound that mixed the 'out loud sigh' and a groan. The kind you should make when you are pushing to the next level of growth. Training, changing, and growing should hurt. Not hurt in a painful way but hurt in the 'I'm getting something for my effort and it's something worth having' way.
Why was I doing abs? Well, I don't like the way my abs look or feel but the bigger reason is that my core is weak and it has been contributing to other potential problems with my hips and knees. When parts of our body are out of balance then the other parts of our body must compensate. Usually it's not in a good way either.
This brought me to revisit the idea of balance as it relates to my life, not just exercise.

Why is it that when we are pushing in one area we slack off in others?
Work and Family
Cardio and Weights
Children and Spouse
Faith and Obligations

You name it, we struggle as humans (I know I am not the only one) to find a good balance.
A friend of mine long ago talked about faith, family, finance and fitness as the four spokes on a wheel. The wheel will be flat and not rotate if all four areas aren't in balance and in the case of fitness, there may be an internal wheel made up of Cardio, Stretching, Weights, and Nutrition.
It has been a 2 year journey for me to get back to looking at stretching, weights, and nutrition in addition to my cardio craze and you know what? until I got all four in balance I could only achieve sub-optimal results and risk getting hurt!

Is part of your life out of balance? Why? Do you want to fix it? How will you do it?