A balanced life is different for everyone

What does a balanced life look like for you? Remember that what may look like a balanced life for other people in your life may not be the balance that you need in your life. When you have a balanced life it’ll bring you peacefulness, joy, vibrancy and give you a more fulfilled life.

Taking good care of yourself and practicing self-care can help you to balance your life.

1. Take Care of Yourself

You must first practice self-care before taking care of others

You come first! In order to live a balanced life you need to be sure that you practice self-care consistently in your life.

Self-care is different for everyone; it’s something that needs to be figured out on a personal level – Learn more about personal growth. It’s also important to note that self-care changes as you age and as life circumstances change.

How can you better take care of yourself? 

Some ways to practice self-care:

• Eating right type of food is essential – a balanced diet is a balanced life
  It’s important to eat well in order to be healthy and maintain a balance in your life. It would be good for you to take care of yourself by drinking plenty of water, having an appropriate sleep schedule, and meditating. These are all things that can benefit your health and help you maintain a balanced life. Learn more about how to live well.
• Taking care of your mental health
  Even though it’s often hard to balance things like work, family, friends, and health with our daily lives, it’s important to put effort into taking good care of our own mental health. It’s even harder during hard times, such as the recent pandemic. Find out how to find hope and happiness in hard times. If you feel stressed out or anxious, it’s important to talk to someone so that your mental health doesn’t reflect negatively on your physical and emotional well-being.
• Take some time to exercise.
  Exercise will look different for everyone. Maybe it’s going to the gym, or it could be doing yoga, taking a walk, riding a bike, etc. Try to move your body in some way each and every day.
• Get outside to get some fresh air.
  Fresh air and being in nature can do wonders for you mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Try to spend at least 15 minutes of your day in nature each day.
• Maintain a regular sleep schedule
  If you find this to be difficult, I’d recommend that you shut off all electronics a few hours before you go to bed. Shut off the TV, put down the phone and give yourself a screen break before bed. This will help you sleep better and give you time for other priorities. Turning off your electronics throughout the night allows yourself to be present in dreams and memories!

How can you improve or change your daily rituals to bring more balance in your life? 

Think about when you first wake up. Maybe you brush your teeth, wash your face, get dressed and then eat breakfast. These are all rituals that you just do without thinking about.

When you can intentionally add daily rituals to your life, you can get get mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually turned on and ready to face the day. Purposeful daily rituals help you take on whatever obstacles or situations come your way and to navigate them without feeling stressed out or overwhelmed.

2. Setting Your Priorities

What needs to get done and what do you enjoy / want to do?  In order to figure out what your priorities are, I recommend that you crate a list of things that you enjoy doing. Next to that, also make a list of what you HAVE to do – things that you can’t avoid.

Here’s an example of what that list may look like for you:

Enjoy doing:

• Yoga
• Cooking
• Gardening
• Watching TV
• Listening to music
• Reading a good book

What I HAVE to do:

• Take care of my kids before work and after work
• Grocery shopping
• Clean the house
• Laundry
• Pay bills

Your priorities will change so be sure you evaluate these priorities on a regular basis. This will help so that you can not bite off more than you can chew. When you know your priorities you can know what you truly have time for. You can learn how to say no to what you really cannot handle.

Be clear, be organized, and delegate tasks you do not enjoy.

What else can you delegate from you have to do list? What needs to get taken off your list? How can you make more time for the things that you enjoy doing?

3. Be More Efficient / Organized

Remember we all have the same amount of time each day (spoiler alert 24 hours). How can you be more present in your life? How can you make the most of the time that you have in your life?

Being efficient and organized in your life can start with you writing down your priorities and removing what you can or delegating tasks to others. Being efficient in your mindset is also essential to juggling all the stresses in your life. It can help you achieve a more balanced life.

Take the things our of your day that are not essential. Keep a positive mindset and truly be present in everything that you do – even those that are on the “have to do” list.

Being present trumps everything and is the ultimate strategy for long-term success. 

When you’re fully present and honoring the task at hand with the attention it deserves, you’ll find that you can accomplish a lot more without the frenzied energy of stress and anxiety.

This is another area where you need to be careful about your devices. They often can be a distraction to your life. Maybe it’s just a television for background noise that distracts your thoughts. Or listening to a podcast or audio book while we multitask to be as efficient as possible.

There is nothing wrong about combining tasks, but if we do this too often we are not really practicing being in the moment. We try to do 10 things at once and end up not getting anything done at the end of the day.  When we spread our energy too thin, important details slip through the cracks.  By paying full attention to the task at hand, you’re giving it the attention it deserves and your results will show it. You may find that you know have ‘more time’ in your day.

Best,

Dr. Asha Prasad
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