Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1541840
28 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2025 in knowing we're contributing something valuable. These pursuits often come wrapped in the urgency of emails demanding replies, approaching dead- lines, opportunities expiring, and growing expec- tations. Meanwhile, family can feel steady, famil- iar, and reliably present. As a result, it becomes the side of the seesaw we assume can patiently wait its turn. But families, like seesaws, are not designed to stay suspended indefinitely. When the relational connection is held aloft for too long, the shift is subtle at first: conversations shorten, shared laugh- ter becomes less frequent, routines replace mem- ories, and presence becomes proximity rather than engagement. Over time, silence grows not out of conflict, but from distance. Connections wear thin, not because love disappears, but because atten- tion relocates. Opportunities for memories slip quietly through the cracks with the soft passing of uncelebrated moments. The tragedy of imbal- ance is rarely catastrophic; it's cumulative. Most of the damage is not what we did, but what we didn't do in time. Unlike work, which often offers sec- ond chances, relationships operate on a different schedule. Childhood has an expiration date, aging parents won't always be there to call, and we can't replay milestones the way we can reschedule meetings. I teach at multiple universities with a demand- ing workload, and I'm often the first to justify my own imbalance. I tell myself, "It's just a busy sea- son," even when that season has become my usual rhythm. I promise, "I'll slow down once I get through a semester," knowing that driven peo- ple rarely find that moment. I reassure myself with good intentions: "I'm doing this for my family; they know I love them." But in reality, we cannot replace presence with provision, and time doesn't accumu- late like savings. Life is more like a live broadcast: Once a moment passes, you can't replay it. When I watch my grandkids on the seesaw, I notice they never give up. They scoot forward, slide back, switch sides, call for help, change tac- tics, and laugh at every failed attempt. They expect balance to require effort and approach it with curi- osity, rather than frustration. Somewhere in adult- hood, we lose that instinct and start believing bal- ance should happen automatically, even as life gets heavier and more complex. Don't look at bal- ance as a destination, but as a practice built on intentional adjustments. On the seesaw, riders move closer to the center to steady the board; in E L E M E N TA RY, M R . WATS O N