beach balling constantly - what to do?

First boot into Safe Mode, Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac, run for a short while and then reboot normally. Any improvement?

Next download and run Etrecheck.  Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply:

Also assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Run DriveDX to check on the health of the hard drive. Feel free to post a screenshot of the "Health Indicators".

Is this about a MBAir or an iMac?