What does it mean by living a balanced life?
Balancing life does not mean spending equal amounts of time and energy on all areas of your life. That would be too difficult, not to mention impossible. After all, if you work 40 hours each week (work area) you wouldn’t be able to spend that same amount of time in all the other areas of your life.
Having a “balanced life” means spending time doing things in all the areas of your life on a regular basis. That means doing all the things that are important to you and doing things that match up with your values.
This includes:
- Things that you really want to do but have trouble fitting into your day. Like reading to your kids, praying, and visiting family and friends.
- Things that you may not really want to do but ones that your body needs to work its best. Like exercising and eating healthy foods.
- Things that you probably don’t like doing at all but have to. Like washing dishes and doing laundry.
But how do you fit everything in?
First, eliminate things that aren’t important to you and that you don’t have to do.
- Do you belong to any clubs that were once important to you but not so much anymore?
- Did you sign up to be in charge of a committee because someone told you that you should, but you didn’t really want to?
Next, start to reduce the time it takes to do the things you have to, like housework and laundry. Add some of the keys of life areas such as “home.” When you start getting your house in order, it will eliminate some wasted time. You won’t waste hours searching for important papers. You will already know where they are. And when you split up the household chores, the things you have to do get done so much faster than if you were doing it alone.
Then, gradually add the things that you want to be doing into your schedule.
It takes time to get organized and have your life balanced. It’s a gradual process. It doesn’t happen overnight.
