The First Step to Living a Balanced Life
Hey guys, and welcome back to my blog. I am so glad you decided to stop by. Once again I am so grateful for those of you who truly support me and my little ol' blog... thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
OK. So. Where do I even start with this one. In my opinion, the word balance should not even exist when it comes on to this thing called life. We are all forever searching for this idea of a quote on quote, balanced lifestyle when in reality we have already been living our version of it. Just maybe not the best version. So I know this blog post has the word balance in the title, but sorry to tell you that was just a distraction to entice you guys, and get you to WANT to read it...lol jk. But really, in all seriousness, I think that what we should be focusing on is being able to prioritize. It is not so much about trying to balance life's tasks and provide an equal amount of time for every single thing we have going on. It is more about prioritizing; scheduling and setting aside the appropriate time for each individual person, task, appointment and so on!
Of course you may think looking from the outside in, "Oh wow that person seems to have it all figured out!" But realistically none of us do. Some of us are just better at prioritizing and looking at each individual hour, or minute in a day as an opportunity to schedule or do something meaningful. Once you are able to develop the mind frame that every second in a day counts, you will feel as though you are using your time more wisely. If you consciously know that you tend to get in to the bad habit of wasting precious study time for example, by binge watching shows on Netflix, then change that! We all form habits. And sometimes you really and truly need to set time to just do nothing. Or to just binge watch that show. Because let's face it, we all have that odd day when we just need to take a break from our busy lives. But when it starts to take precedence over the more important things like spending time with loved ones or studying for exams and getting valuable work done, then you just begin to feel and know that something needs to change.
A great way to learn more about how to better prioritize your daily tasks is to read books and/or articles to better acquaint yourself with the idea of prioritizing. If you are a go with the flow type of person that is great. But I think in life we all thrive off of some sort of daily, weekly or even monthly schedule. For me I am definitely the type who needs to write things down in the form of a schedule. On Sundays I usually take the time to plan out my week ahead in my planner. And at the beginning of every month I also take the time to mark important dates in my planner, and on my fridge calendar. I love the fridge calendar because it allows Ryeon to stay in the loop as well when it comes to Maya's and his own appointments. I'm basically the family planner and scheduler. Because lets face it, men like to rely on their memory and often times will forget lol.
As far as my weekly planner goes I write down every single thing I want to get accomplished for each day of the week with either a specific time attached to it, or just simply an AM or PM. There are definitely days when I don't accomplish all that I have set out to do, but that's life. Things come up! So I just move it over to another day that week, and try to really get it done at least by the weeks end. I really cannot sit here and say that I have a schedule all figured out and that I feel like I live a perfectly balanced life. Because I don't! But I do live MY perfectly balanced (or should I say) prioritized life, and feel as though I am doing a pretty good job! But of course there is always room for improvement. The key is to not get caught up in 'wasted time activities' as I like to call them. Things like watching tv, browsing on social media or the web for hours, napping lol, and so on.That will only get you stuck in living a no good, sedentary lifestyle.We obviously all do these things once in awhile, but I'm sure you guys get my drift here!
Try to look at your life as an outsider looking in. Look at the things you do on a daily basis. Write it down even. Ask yourself if you are feeling completely satisfied with how you are spending your time. Then write down the things you would like to do, and believe you should be doing to live a more productive and proactive life. I know I am making it sound so simple. But most of the time, it really is just that. We too often just get caught up in our regular old habits and forget to go in and reexamine our own lives, and put the work in to better ourselves. And I am telling you guys when you write things down and have it on paper, in a planner or on a calendar even; it is so much easier for you to follow, remember and most importantly execute.You don't have to worry about trying to remember a million and one things, and then beat yourself up when you forget about that appointment or deadline, or what ever it may be. Because what you want to accomplish will always be right there for you to refer to, at any time.
I found my beautiful planner at Winners, but Indigo always has amazing ones as well! Or you can just download and print really cute, weekly planning sheets from online as well. Whatever works for YOU! That is what this is all about. You have to figure out what works for you, and plan accordingly. I really hope this helped, and answered any questions that some of you may of had. As always thanks for reading and see you soon!
Also, let me know what a balanced life means to you in the comments section below!
