balance; a distribution of activities (such as work, fitness and fun) that is equal and personal.
a balanced lifestyle is a lifestyle in which your work, your fitness, and your fun are all distributed adequately and you engage in all areas of life that are important to you.
in a balanced lifestyle, not everything is the same; you do not need to sleep or work the same amount of hours as you sleep, for example.
balance simply means that you engage in the right amount of everything based on your personal preferences, in a healthy and organised manner.
balance is determined by what is important to you.
what you include in your balanced lifestyle may be incredibly different to what your friend or family member includes in their balanced lifestyle.
you may prioritise studying and include a few hours of school work in your balanced lifestyle, while somebody else that you know may not study at all; this is personal and based on what is important to you.
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comparison is the thief of happiness.
yes, it’s incredibly important to take inspiration from others, specifically those more successful than you, but to compare yourself to them would be detrimental and negative.
when you compare, you allow yourself to focus on your flaws; you focus on how you are not as fit as someone else, not as intelligent as someone else, not as rich as someone else.
focusing on your flaws, and only your flaws, is not going to get you any closer to your goals. it steals your happiness and keeps you stagnant.
when drawing from others to find your personal balance, go in with an objective viewpoint, rather than an emotional one.
forgo the urge to compare your life with theirs, and simply observe their lifestyle without envy. this gives you the opportunity to appreciate their success and take from their balanced lifestyle what you need for yours.
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how do you figure out what is important to you?
one of the best ways to do this is to envision your dream life.
envision what your life would be like in five years if it was your dream life, and you were content.
this can be a mental activity, or you can take notes in a journal — whatever is preferred.
envision yourself dream life;
- what do you look like?
- where do you live?
- what type of work do you do?
- what type of people are you surrounded by?
- what habits do you have?
- what do you do for fun?
with the answers in mind, you can figure out clearly what is important to you.
if for the fourth question, for example, you are surrounded by family, it is clear that family life is important to you, and you should include this in your balanced lifestyle.
when you know what is important to you, you can shape your life around it, create a healthy balance, and ensure that you engage in those things regularly.
balance is personal.
as it is determined by what is important to you, as an individual, it is personal.
there’s multiple videos, podcasts and articles, just like this one, that will try and provide a solution to the ‘perfect balance’.
they’ll provide daily routines, times, meals, activities etc, but you must remember that this may not work for you. it might, and that’s amazing, but it also might not, as balance is personal.
balance varies for person to person. balance is tangible and it can definitely change over weeks, years or months. what your current balance looks like may not be the same as your balance in five years.
balance is tailored to you, and only you.
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with the idea that balance is personal, it is important to experiment.
it’s important to take lessons from influencers, authors and philosophers and experiment with practices that may be useful to you.
i’ve experimented with running, for example, as a form of exercise to retain balance in my life, but it’s just not my thing. i prefer biking and swimming.
when you experiment, you open yourself up to a wide range of things that can help improve your life and help provide balance.
if you’re living an unbalanced lifestyle, suffering from burn out and generally struggling, experimenting with new habits, activities and practises can help you get out of that rut.
some things to experiment;
- morning yoga
- journalling
- weight training
- reading a new genre
- sleeping an hour earlier
- working an hour less every day
- trying a new skincare product
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it is also important to be open to change.
your balance will not stay the same your entire life.
what you spend your time and energy on now may be different in a few months or years, and this is okay. as long as you are still working towards your goals and making progress, change is okay.
be open to switching things around, to trying new routines, to adopting new habits and removing bad ones.
change is not something to fear but something to accept and embrace.
you can’t talk about balance without talking about burnout.
burnout is the opposite of balance, yet the two go hand in hand.
burnout means you lack balance, and balance prevents burnout.
burnout is awful — luckily, i haven’t experienced burnout for months. i haven’t experience it once this year, and i feel extremely accomplished for that. i’ve learnt from past mistakes, though i still have a lot to learn.
preventing burnout is key to retaining balance and also good health.
a few things to prevent burnout, and therefore retain balance;
- rest!!!!
- allow yourself time to yourself; this can include meditation, reading, watching films etc
- socialise and connect with people
why is any of this relevant to me?
i’m in what i’d call the last stretch of school.
there’s a month and two days until my first GCSE exam (which is absolutely surreal and genuinely so scary when i think about it), and just over two months until all of my exams are over and i fully leave school.
one month and two days.
may 16th.
(if im being specific, i have 12 days until my first exam, which is a spanish speaking exam that i intend to ace)
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in the last two months, i’ve been studying intensely.
there’s been some obstacles; meetings, dentist appointments, illnesses etc.
there’s been things that have prevented me from studying, and that’s okay. there’s nothing you can do about that. i can’t control those things.
what i can control is balance.
i’ve cultivated my life, specifically in the last two weeks, so that there is a lot of balance with the things that are important to me.
yes, i’m studying, but i’m also taking the time to swim, to read, to watch films, to go to concerts, to see my friends, to bike, and also to rest.
i’m content with the current balance i have, and this month alone (and it is only day 14) i have read more books and watched more films in any of the previous months of the year! i’m also already half way through my 2023 reading goal! very happy :)
i do still struggle, and half the time i don’t want to study or exercise. today, specifically, i did not want to study. i just can’t stand english language. but i did it, and i feel so much better for it. and i’m incorporating balance by listening to cds, writing and cooking.
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this is relevant to me as i’ve been creating balance.
i have a balance i’m happy with.
i definitely need to rest more, however, as this final stretch is just as important as the past few months.
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333.
create balance in life.
