Balancing your Life

How often do you feel overwhelmed, tired, and stressed? It’s so easy to feel this way when your life seems to be out of control and you have an endless stream of demands that tug you in every direction.

Learning how to balance your life doesn’t necessarily have to be a drastic change. There’s no need to leave your family behind, find a new job, or escape to some hidden island to relieve the pressures you are feeling. Believe it or not, balance in life starts with you, and I’m going to give you three simple steps that will help you to start building that balanced life and give you some much needed inner peace.

• Quiet Time

Let’s face it, when we get busy, often the first thing we leave behind is our personal time. Before you know it, we are devoting all of our time and energy to caring for others, performing our responsibilities, multi-tasking, and just “being productive”. Eventually this will eat away your energy and you will start to feel burdened by the responsibilities in your life.

Having this personal quiet time is absolutely critical to finding balance in your life. One of the hardest things you’ll need to do is take an honest look at your day and week to find the time you can reclaim as your own. Everyone has the same 24 hour days as everyone else – and when you start to make your personal time a priority, you’ll start to find that you are actually more productive in the other areas of your life.

• Taking care of yourself

There are plenty of things you still need to do for yourself aside from just having some personal time. Getting proper sleep is a good way to start your day – most people need about 8 hours each night. You’ll also need to ensure you are eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, and get rid of any negative self-talk that may be occurring.

Remember, if you are tired or stressed, the smallest problem seems like a huge mountain. If you are well rested and “cared for” you are much more likely to be able to handle the stresses of the day.

Caring for yourself is a great way to replenish your energy!

• Be Flexible

Did you know that if you are flexible, you are less likely to feel stress? It’s true! Without rigid expectations you are much less likely to feel the “stress factors” you encounter every day.

So, what does flexibility really mean? Consider this example: you have a mental picture of how your life should be, and when your real life doesn’t match up with this picture in your head, you can get very upset that the world isn’t living up to your expectations. Being flexible allows you to leave behind any unreal expectations and “go with the flow”.

If you have a flexible mindset, you are much more likely to be able to deal effectively with day-to-day crises since you aren’t trying to make the outside world co-operate with your preconceived notion of what the situation should be.

These three starter steps to inner peace and balance can truly make a difference in your well-being, but you’ll also need to take a look at the circumstances that surround your life. You can’t control anything but yourself, but there may be some things you can do to help your “outer life” support your inner work.

For example, you may want to leave a committee that you are currently on because it is no longer an enjoyable or meaningful activity for you. You can also re-examine your current obligations such as agreements that were made years ago that don’t currently mesh well with your life.

Be open to letting go of activities that no longer represent who you are, or the lifestyle you are trying to create. Use that energy towards your inner balance!

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