The Importance of a Balanced Life
Patricia Spens, M.Sc., M.Ed.
Registered Psychologist
For the past couple of decades, people have been on the pursuit to have everything, the nicest home, best car, and newest technology. This has caused many of us to increase our stress levels and to have unbalanced lives. This path has contributed to anxiety and depressive symptoms in many people who have never had any issues in the past. More and more research has been done to support the need to have a more balanced life. Today, even employers offer this to their employees. We often seek a balanced life; however, many people don’t know what a balanced life would look like or feel like.
Jerry Lopper a Life Purpose/Life Balance Coach who has over 10 years of experience in the field of Life Purpose and Life Balance Coaching has done a great deal of research and written not only on the importance of a balanced life, but also how to obtain it. He is also the author of two books, Personal Development 40 Best Articles and Jump for Joy. Lopper would say that a balanced life is more about how someone feels than what they are actually doing. He would say that if you experience any of the following issues, then you might want to look closely at your life.
- You feel overwhelmed by daily responsibilities.
- You have the feeling that something is missing, something that could make life more pleasant.
- Your life lacks joy and seems grim and difficult.
- What you do fails to satisfy your craving for meaning and fulfillment.
- You’d love to wake each morning filled with enthusiasm for the day’s activities, but the truth is you don’t.
- You feel resentful much of the day, with no time for yourself. (www.balanced-life.biz)
In order to have a balanced life, one must first participate in self reflection. During time, one must look at their current life and then develop a personal vision for the way that they want their life to be. This is probably the most difficult thing to do. Many people do not allow themselves time to spend reflecting on their life. For many of us, trying to carve out 30 minutes a day would be a task. However, if we allow ourselves this time for reflection, we can begin to have vision for what our life is now and what we want it to look like.
This first step is crucial for success. However, due to the fact that it is so personal and there is no set way to do it, many people will not complete this first step. Without this first step, people will have a tendency to flounder and start trying to change things haphazardly, never really giving it much thought. A vision will help structure one’s path. This structure will help give shape and dimension to one’s path for developing a balanced life.
After taking this first step and after we have a vision for what we want our life to look like, we will need to concentrate on the individual areas that we need to change. This is a time to be open and honest with ourselves. It is also a time to discuss these things with our friends and family. The people who know us often can see areas in our life that need to be changed that we do not even realize. Having these open and honest conversations with others will be very rewarding and enlightening.
After all of this, Jerry Lopper also states that if you add in the following ingredients, it will go a long way towards achieving a balanced life:
- Life Purpose
- Passionate Activities
- Unique Strengths
- Values/Beliefs
- Positive Thinking
- Self Awareness
- Boundaries
- Time Management
While this list may seem long and overwhelming, the pay off will be great. Each one of these ingredients requires that we make time for ourselves and continue to grow and cultivate ourselves. Remember, it took many of us a long time to have the unbalanced lives that we have and it will take time to undo it and give us a path of happiness and fulfillment.
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