Trying to find a balanced lifestyle? You and I both know the importance of having a balanced life but managing work and personal life is a battle that most of us are faced with.
Here’s the thing, balancing your work life is crucial to your well-being but a lot of us find it hard it achieve. In these very stressful times, a healthy work-life balance is a big deal when it comes to living a meaningful and happy life.
Your job is important but there are other aspects of your life that are just as or more important. The clash between work and life balance exists because you’re not managing your time properly.
Time management plays a big part in making it easier for you to accomplish balance.
Don’t get trapped in a downward spiral where your job holds greater focus or matters more than your personal life. Use an effective plan to prioritize what’s important to you and organize your time accordingly.
Then take the necessary steps to engage in activities to reduce your stress levels to regulate and bring harmony between to your work and your personal life.
What Is A Balanced Life?
A balanced life simply means that you dedicate your time in the right proportions to work as well as other areas of your life. This includes your relationships as well as your physical, mental and spiritual well-being
Nowadays, with smart devices, you can work from anywhere and at any time. You must have a life outside your job and extensive, long-term hours on the job may cause increased stress levels and can leave you feeling burnout and overwhelmed.
When you make it a habit of constantly working around the clock, then you might find it difficult to power down and detach. This can prevent you from getting the chance to truly unwind and relax and find the time for all the things that matter in your life.
Eventually, this can have a serious impact on your life and can cause mental health issues, misery and unhappiness.
Importance Of Having A Balanced Life
1. Develop Your Interests
When your job is taking over your life, then you pass up on the chance to be grateful for what you have including the people in your life and to just enjoy your life to the fullest.
You have to be interested in other things outside of work because it helps to improve your quality of life. It also helps to improve your knowledge and capabilities and makes you a more flexible person.
It can be really enjoyable and satisfying when you’ve learned something new and then pass on that knowledge to other people to help enlighten and empower them.
When you have a balanced lifestyle then you’ll be available to check out new ideas, gain new insights and approaches and develop new skills to improve your life as well as that of others.
2. Build Healthy Relationships
You and I both know that relationships are an important part of your life. Your body and mind were not intended to go into solitude and forsake everyone around the clock nonstop.
It’s hardly possible to create, develop and sustain sound and committed relationships when you’re always absorbed with work or thinking of nothing else but work.
You need to take a break and spend some quality time with your family and friends including your significant other. When you don’t carve out time for that aspect of your life, there’s no way can be genuinely happy and content.
3. Maintain Your Health
Let’s face it, working yourself to the bone continuously can cause you to become stressed and overwhelmed and can make you overlook the true meaning of life.
It can also affect your health and cause major health challenges both in the short and long term. According to studies people who have difficulty maintaining a balanced lifestyle can have increased levels of health disorders such as strokes and diabetes.
Your health takes priority over everything, nothing is more important. When you have good health then you’ll have a better quality of life.
I get that you have responsibilities at work but if you turn a blind eye to your health by biting off more than you can chew at the office then it will have negative impacts later on in life, that you’ll not be able to push aside.
4. It Increases Productivity
As an employee If you’re not productive, you’ll probably get the boot or even if you’re self-employed it can have a negative ripple effect.
That is not to say that it should be a habit or the norm for you to work extended hours or long periods of time every week or unlimited periods of time.
You’ll probably think that by working for extremely long hours, you’re making a significant contribution. While some areas of your job require more attention than others, the value or quality of your work should not be gauged by a particular time frame.
Of course, you might need to work overtime once in a while to meet a deadline and that is fine as long as it doesn’t become a regular occurrence.
If you maintain a balanced lifestyle then you’ll certainly be much more productive at the office as well as in your personal life.
How Do You Stay Balanced?
How do you stay balanced you might ask? Obtaining a work-life balance can seem like an uphill task. The thing is before you address the situation you must first look at your current state of affairs, bring it all together and figure out the problem.
A good place to start is to make a note of how much time you spend at work as well as on the other areas of your life.
When you have the details then you’ll be able to see how your lifestyle is divided into work and play and from that you can put together a plan to start to improve your life’s balance.
Here are some ideas to help give you a jumping-off point.
1. Take Notice Of What Makes You Feel Like There’s a lack of Balance
Think about it, what is it that is most pressing and is screaming for your attention? As you go through your various responsibilities, how does it make you feel?
Don’t get into a thoughtless cycle of work so that your brain is fried or you’re in a brain fog. Being aware is the initial stage to attaining balance in your life. This is because it shows you where you need to switch things up to encourage changes.
2. Organize Your Time At Work
When you plan ahead you’re better organized and more prepared to take on your day at the office as well as the other areas of your life. Make an effort to set up and prepare for your week as much as you possibly can.
Set your priorities and make a checklist if you need to in order to keep your daily schedule properly thought out and efficiently structured and coordinated.
Learn to take off your ‘work hat’ when you’re not at the office. This is important for your self care and as well as for building your personal relationships.
This principle even works for your career goals. Making a list of your goals gives you a handle on how to better manage your time. It helps you to see where you’re now and helps you to schedule a plan for where you want to be.
3. Your Personal Relationships
Don’t act like healthy personal relationships are not important in your life. People need people it’s as simple as that. You’re not self-sustaining. You’re connected to others and require their support.
The connections we form with others are crucial to our mental wellness. When you isolate yourself from family and friends it can result in health consequences such as high blood pressure and depression.
Don’t take a rain check on that family dinner you’re supposed to attend or the next girls’ trip. Respect celebrate and cherish these relationships and appreciate how valuable they are.
4. Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
Learn to let things go, whether it’s people or responsibilities that you’ve accepted. If it gets to a point where you feel burnout, cut to the chase and flatly turn down anything that doesn’t serve you.
Release bitterness, long-standing resentment, and hurt. These things can sap your energy and drain you mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Do yourself a favor and make the decision to embrace forgiveness and let go of toxic people without feeling guilty. You really don’t need these people in your life.
5. Self Care
In all of life’s ups and downs, you have to take care of yourself in order for you to feel well and capable of balancing your life. If you feel stressed and overwhelmed then it has a negative effect on the way your attitude.
This in turn can affect your relationships, the way you perform on your job and can cause physical and mental health issues.
Get proper sleep, eat healthy meals and drink plenty of water. Exercise is a must, try for at least three times per week. You also have to dedicate some time to your hobbies as well as spending time with the people you love and care about.
Spiritual self care including gratitude is also an essential aspect when it comes to caring for yourself, so spend some alone time with God. You also have to dedicate time to your hobbies as well as spend time with the people you love and care about.
Conclusion On The Importance of Balance In Life
Here’s the thing, there’s no secret that it’s important to have a balanced lifestyle. The important thing is to manage your time wisely. When you do this, it helps you allocate a suitable amount of time to the ton of demands in your life that you have to prioritise.
It’s possible to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance when you have a handle on how your time is spent. Take matters into your own hands and reorganize your schedule to dedicate time for the things that are important to you.
Even if you have to deal with each area in bite-sized chunks, just start to make those changes in order to achieve success in a more balanced life.
What do you do to achieve a more balanced life? Comment below!
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