We all go through periods when life feels out of control and imbalanced. It’s perfectly normal! But how can we achieve and maintain balance in these hectic times?
Understanding what balance truly means is the first step toward creating a balanced lifestyle. Life balance doesn’t necessarily mean giving equal amounts of time or attention to each part of your life. That’s a myth!
Life balance is about knowing when to give a little more effort, when it’s time to call it a day, and when everything feels just right.
Here are six tips that can help you strike a better balance in your life:
Make Time for Yourself
Know for a certainty that you are important and valuable. Taking care of your own happiness (and sanity) is an essential part of creating a balanced life. Even if it’s just two hours each week, put everyone else’s needs aside and focus on yourself!
Take a candlelit bubble bath while having a glass of wine and catching up on your favorite guilty pleasure reading. For me, that would be science fiction and/or a murder mystery. Maybe just take your dog to the park.
Do whatever helps you unwind and enter a mindset of total relaxation.
Strive For a Healthier Lifestyle
Exercise and a conscious diet are both necessary to remain healthy and happy. Set aside a specific amount of time each week to exercise. Work your way up to doing something every day. Your workout can be anything at all if it keeps you active.
If eating healthy is a challenge, avoid bringing unhealthy food into the house. You can’t be tempted by something if it isn’t in your home. Not only will it keep your heart healthy and your waistline under control, but it will promote healthy eating habits in your children and friends.
Leave Work at Work
There is a reason you have a work schedule. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, your employer is only willing to pay you for a specific amount of time each day. Do your family a favor and leave work at work. Avoid overworking yourself if there isn’t a pot of gold waiting for you at the end of the rainbow.
If you find that there aren’t enough hours in the workday to maintain your responsibilities, find a way to strengthen your productivity while at the office. If this proves to be fruitless, explain your situation to your boss. They may be willing to pay you for an extra hour each day or lessen your workload. If you’re self-employed, or in a hybrid situation, consider restructuring, reorganizing, or delegating what you can.
Make Time for Love
Rekindle romance by making thoughtful gestures. Bring home a candle, send flowers to the workplace, or maybe even hire a cleaning service so your family members can spend more time doing the things they love. Spend quality, uninterrupted time with those you love.
Simply watching TV together isn’t enough. It is important that you do something meaningful for everyone concerned. If you don’t know what might be meaningful to them anymore, ask for suggestions. Then spread them out and execute them in your own special way.
Live Within or Beneath Your Means
If your finances are causing you stress, and who isn’t stressed by finances these days, it is way past time to reassess your budget. Make budget cuts to proactively work towards achieving your financial goals. If you haven’t set any specific financial goals, it is time to do that as well.
Eliminate obvious splurges, like streaming service upgrades, and pricey cell phone plans. Cut down on your energy bill by turning down the thermostat and doing laundry less frequently.
Live within, or beneath, your means and feel the relief it brings you!
Socialize
Hanging out with our friends allows us to unwind and have a few laughs. Make it a point to meet up with friends at least once each month. Go out to dinner, or better yet, host a get-together in your home.
Leading an unbalanced lifestyle is one of our leading causes of stress. The inability to cope with stress can cause many health problems, such as weight gain, migraines, high blood pressure, and even heart issues.
You can make yourself the exception. You can ward off health problems by nipping stress in the bud.
Life balance doesn’t necessarily mean giving equal amounts of time or attention to each part of your life. Taking care of your own happiness is essential. Understanding what balance truly means is the first step toward creating a balanced lifestyle.
“To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better.”
With establishing harmony in mind, we’ll talk about some of these things in greater detail in the coming weeks and months.
In the meantime, consider downloading our free pdf, “How to Achieve Balance in Your Life.” Do it now!! You can also turn this into a living document that you fill out at the beginning of every year, for instance, to assess your progress.
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Chat soon…
Martina
