You seek balance both in yourself and the world. You could think of balance as the goal state.
So, in the case of yourself you could be imbalanced in that:
-You help others too much such that you don't tend well enough to your need (lightworker syndrome)
-You help yourself too much such that you don't tend well enough to others needs (darkworker syndrome)
In the case of the lightworker syndrome you help yourself more to achieve balance. In case of the darkworker syndrome you help others more to achieve balance.
In the event of world imbalance you might polarize yourself a particular direction to restore balance to the world. I find this post of Steve's to be particularly interesting on this subject:
Rise of the Lightworker
In the post Steve is advocating the polarization to lightworkers because an imbalance exists in the world. Steve is looking to restore balance.