How Many Can YOU Juggle?

Juggling is life.

Have you ever tried to juggle? Try it now. Start with two balls, one in each hand. It’s like this: throw one ball, making an arc from one hand to the other. While that ball is in the air, throw the other, tracing an imaginary X with the arcing paths. Catch, catch, and you’re done.

Take three balls, two in one hand, one in the other, and start again. Trace the X in the air, and quickly, before the first ball has landed, start the X again with the third ball. Confusing? Good, because this is as far as I get.

Maybe it’s only obvious to the juggling aficionado, but I have no idea how to juggle.

Here’s the problem: at any given point in time, the juggler will be holding one ball at most. The rest are in the air, ever moving, ever falling; never-ending entropy that can only be resolved by a quick catch and a throw again.

It can be too much at times. We can’t keep track of all the balls in the air. We get overwhelmed, lose focus, and quite literally drop the ball.

Juggling is life. We always have more balls in the air than we have in hand. We need to take control, to just stop throwing, but life keeps on moving, and we need to keep up.

Throw the ball.

Make the X.

Wait for it…

Catch.

A similar version of this post was originally posted on my NYU blog as part of the NYU Silver School of Social Work Student Blogger project. It was featured on the NYU Social Work website.