Ways To Begin To Find A Balanced Life

Modern life is busy. It is always packed to the gills with challenges and demands, all fighting for our attention at the same time. While juggling our health, our jobs, our families, our friends, our feelings, and our lives, it’s all too easy to lose our path and find ourselves lost, confused, stressed out, and wondering how we ever got here in the first place.

Modern life, in various ways, is a balancing act. With a deep desire to accomplish our goals and to flourish on all fronts in life, we often neglect to understand the importance of having balance in our lives.

Supporting a well-balanced life isn’t just critical for your health, happiness, and well-being, but is also indispensable for improving productivity, managing stress, and unleashing your true potential. We have the power to find balance in life and to live with no regrets, allowing us to feel fully engaged. We want to live each day with meaning and purpose. Every day should bring us joy, so that we can live life on purpose.

But what is balance? What does it mean to live a balanced life and why does balance seem like such an elusive concept?

Balance is the taking of appropriate action when circumstances dictate so as to maintain equilibrium.

The challenge is this: try to balance what we must do, with what we enjoy and choose to do. This is not always easy. If, however, we are unable to reduce stress and manage a well-balanced life, there can be physical and/or emotional health consequences. The power of a well-balanced life is truly profound. Living in balance means that you live in harmony and tune within your body. This type of mental lifestyle aids in centering your being and allows you to stand in your own power. Not only that, but it also allows you to integrate both the positive and negative aspects of your being into something more powerful: balance.

Ways To Begin To Find A Balanced Life

1. Assess your life as it is now.
2. Make a conscious decision to become balanced.
3. Make that decision on a minute-to-minute schedule and schedule your life like you schedule work and school.
4. Set goals in every area of your life based on the Circle of Life.
5. Be willing to take the risk.
6. Make time to reassess yourself on a daily basis.

When we are living with balance in our life, we are living with peace and harmony every day. Balance comes in a physical form, an emotional form, and a spiritual form. Being in balance may mean something different to each individual. For me, having a balanced life means creating time for the things I have to do, as well as the things I like to do.

We must all eat and sleep each day and many of us must also work. Some of us must go to school. It is up to each of us to create harmony between our life responsibilities while finding time daily, or weekly, to participate in activities that bring us pleasure, personal fulfillment, and rejuvenation.

If any aspect of our life draws a disproportionate amount of energy, we have to shortchange the other aspects. That throws us off—and we are unable to move forward on life’s tightrope until a balance can be reestablished. We have to deal with any areas that are taking too much energy and put them into perspective and make sure that they are aligned, so that we have energy available for all areas.

There are steps we can take to change what isn’t working and get back some control and balance in our life. And once we start seeing results, we’ll be better equipped to maintain that new found equilibrium. The key is not to try to change everything at once, but to make small adjustments over time to determine what works for you. Eventually, you will have a whole new set of positive life habits and you’ll never look back! It’s up to us to balance all the different aspects of our lives. We just have to decide to do it.

Tips To Find Balance

1. Take a break. Take some time off to unwind. Relax and recharge. It could be a couple of hours a day or during the weekends. Switch off your laptops and smartphones and engage. Read a book, meditate, go for a jog, or talk to a loved one. I know, I know: You want to see who pinged you five minutes ago or check how many people double-tapped on your latest Instagram post, but it’s important to note that all of these things can wait. Similarly, don’t trade your sleep for work. Overworking or overthinking about work-related issues at home doesn’t just elevate stress, it also kills productivity and can damage your relationships. Once you’re done for the day, take your mind off work.
2. Embrace a healthy lifestyle. Your health is bound to have an effect on every other aspect of your life. It’s important to invest in your physical and mental wellbeing. Eat healthy, get enough sleep, stay hydrated, and work out regularly.
3. Take care of and nurture yourself. You cannot accomplish anything if you’re unhealthy. Get plenty of rest, exercise, and eat properly. Many of us think we can burn the candle at both ends, eat junk food, get very little exercise, and still function adequately. You may be able to get away with this for a while when you’re young, however, at some point, this lifestyle catches up with the best of us. Burnout is a real possibility, here.
4. Know what your priorities are. Balance does not entail cramming in every activity possible. Examine your values and decide what’s important to you; then set your boundaries. You may be in the process of building a career, starting a family, or going to school. Depending on what stage you’re at in life, your focus and energies will be different. Avoid becoming overwhelmed by juggling too many big projects in your life at once. Maybe planning a wedding is not a good idea when you’re studying for the Bar exam. Nor is starting a family when you are unsure about your career direction, or relationship status. Not knowing what you want and trying to do everything at once can be a recipe for disaster and will certainly place you on the proper pathway towards a well-balanced life. As the saying goes, “do not bite off more than you can chew.”
5. Expect the unexpected. Rather than get stressed and upset, learn to roll with the punches when something you have no control over happens. You could get stuck in traffic, your computer could crash, or your child could get sick with the Chickenpox – stuff happens. We’ve all experienced the unexpected. If you accept that anything can happen at any time, it’s less likely to throw you off your stride when it does. Be able to adjust your game plan.
6. Maintain a positive mental attitude. Begin each day with the intention of making the best and most of it. It may not always go as planned, but it can go more smoothly if you put it in perspective. Part of living a well-balanced life is learning how to deal with adversity, unforeseen events, and uncertainty. If you practice not letting things get to you, you will not only learn to live a well-balanced and less stressful life, you will learn to live in the present and savor the moment. Once you’ve done everything you can within your control, let your life unfold. Be prepared for the future, but don’t worry about it.