With hectic schedules and never ending obligations, it seems easy to let life get in the way. When we focus on one side of the spectrum and neglect the other, this can cause an imbalance, further escalating the chaos in your life. In this day and age, balance is a challenge because of all the things expected from us by others. The work never seems to stay at work, you’re figuring out how to keep your relationships from dismantling, or you’re in the process of budgeting for an overseen expense that’s going to impact your savings significantly. In other words: as the days progress, the problems do too. For this post, we are going to talk about the five steps to achieve balance even if you think it’s impossible for the place you are in your life.
Step 1: Write your definition of a balanced life and create a list of things you enjoy doing in your free time.
- Define what a balanced life means to you. And then write a list of the things of the activities you enjoy doing in your free time. For most, we get so caught up in the work we need to do and when we have free time, we don’t know what to do with it. Use this as a way to reconnect with the things you used to love that you want to incorporate back into your life.
Step 2: Prioritize
- This is where you state your non-negotiables. What do you need in your life? What could you do away with? And write them down in order of importance (so from most important to least important.)
Step 3: Build the boundaries
- Now that you’ve established your definition of a balanced life and have clarity on your priorities, you need to set boundaries. How much is too much? What time do you need to unplug? And what time of the day is your “me time”? Boundaries serve the purpose of giving you time to reset after a long day or refocus your time on other things that are important.
Step 4: Utilize help
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. We don’t have to go at it alone. Utilize resources to get your work efficiently done. We can do anything but not everything. If you feel like you’re in the process of burning out, take a step back and seek support from others to help you complete your project or task.
Step 5: Be unapologetic about the need to seek balance
- We live in a world where we are pressured to give away ourselves for the sake of people, places, or things. We’ve been taught to strive for the next promotion even if it means that our well-being will be neglected or putting ourselves second for the sake of other people. We touched on this in our previous post on the psychology of selfishness which you can read here. When you decide to live life more balanced, this means you’re going to limit or completely cut out time used to spend excess energy on. This could mean disconnecting relationships with family and friends so you have to time take care of yourself or cut out activities that you used to do with them. The people in your life who will be impacted by this won’t be happy and may call you selfish or rude. This is why we emphasize being unapologetic about regaining control over your life because your well-being depends on it. Don’t drain your energy on people or things that you know you could repurpose your vitality for.
What do you like to do to ensure that your life is balanced? If you feel your life is chaotic, what are some of the takeaways you got from this post that you could apply in your life? And if you’re in the process of regaining balance back into your life, what are some the practices you plan on implementing that wasn’t talked about in this post?
Lots of love,
Jasmine and Phrieda
J AND P LIVING 