Someone asked me recently how I maintain work-life balance. I think they expected something tidy — maybe a calendar hack or my favorite productivity tool. Instead, I said, “I don’t.”
Not because I’m falling behind, but because I’ve stopped performing.
Balance, in the way our culture describes it, isn’t real. It’s a modern myth. A metric of control. A cruel standard that says: If you were really healed, if you were really committed, if you were really well, you’d have it all handled. But I’ve found that chasing balance doesn’t ground me. It fractures me.
Recovery taught me this first. Sobriety didn’t bring stillness. It brought movement. Healing didn’t bring peace all at once. It brought wave after wave of truth. Joy followed grief. Ease followed effort. Clarity and confusion walked side by side. The more I tried to stay “balanced,” the more I missed what was actually happening inside me.
And then I looked to the Earth.
We’ve just passed the spring equinox, a brief moment of near-perfect balance between day and night. But even the Earth doesn’t cling to balance. She lets it pass through her. She keeps tilting. She keeps turning. Now, the days grow longer. The light stretches out its hand. Spring is arriving, not in a straight line, but in spirals and starts and contradictory signals.
This is a season of polarity, a core theme of the Wellspring. It’s a time when we see crocuses blooming in the snow. Warm sun in the morning. Wind that stings by afternoon. Muck and miracle, all at once. Life does not come in symmetrical portions. Neither does recovery.
Early spring is not soft or serene. It’s full of tension. Buds swell and then stall. Plans emerge, then pause. We bloom before we’re ready. We pull back when we thought we’d go forward. If the Earth models anything right now, it’s the beauty of becoming. Awkward. Imperfect. Miraculous becoming.
And that’s how I want to live.
I no longer want to chase balance like it’s the prize for doing recovery “right.” I want to be in rhythm with my life. I want to feel where I’m held and where I’m asked to let go. I want to walk beside what’s blooming in me and what’s still asleep.
This is how I move through sobriety now. Not as a checklist, but as a collaboration. Not as a performance, but as a partnership.
Some seasons, I have energy and inspiration to spare. Others, I am low to the ground, conserving what little I have. Sometimes I’m bursting with creativity. Sometimes I’m rebuilding from the wreckage of a boundary I didn’t honor. All of this belongs. All of it is part of healing. Recovery is not about achieving emotional balance every day. It’s about learning to stay with yourself no matter what arises.
I’ve found that being in rhythm, rather than striving for balance, creates the conditions for flow. And flow doesn’t come from forcing. It comes from noticing. It comes from asking honest questions like:
- What do I have capacity for today?
- What needs tending?
- What can wait?
- What’s trying to bloom in me, and what’s still underground?
When I partner with my life this way, I stop fighting myself. I stop comparing my reality to someone else’s curated illusion. I stop treating rest like a reward and start letting it be a right. I stop seeing slow seasons as failure and start seeing them as sacred.
So if someone asks how I maintain balance, I’ll tell the truth. I don’t. I don’t need to.
I’m in rhythm. I’m in process. I’m in a season. And that’s more than enough.
Thirsty For Wonder is a space for people in recovery and healing to return to themselves—through coaching, spiritual companionship, creative practices, and community calls. It’s slow work, sacred work, and it’s being held with care. Anne Marie is raising funds to keep it accessible and sustainable. Learn more and support HERE.
THIRSTY FOR WONDER: Anne Marie Cribben is a passionate recovery coach and spiritual companion based in Washington, DC. As the founder of Thirsty For Wonder, she offers 1:1 coaching, spiritual companionship, and recovery support rooted in compassion and empowerment. Creator of The Wellspring: A Celtic Recovery Journey, Anne Marie blends the Celtic calendar with sobriety, connecting participants to ancient wisdom and nature’s rhythms. A fierce advocate for sobriety as liberation and self-love, Anne Marie challenges the targeted marketing of alcohol to women and promotes authentic, joyful living. Her approach goes beyond addiction recovery, fostering a life of vibrancy and fulfillment.
In her personal life, Anne Marie enjoys baking, cooking, poetry, being a Swiftie, weight lifting, reading, embroidery, and creating mocktails. She treasures time with friends and embraces creativity in all forms.
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