To be truly and fully fulfilled we
need to balance each area of our life.
If you are like the majority of our
people you probably concentrate on only one or two areas of your life at the
same time, putting everything you have into making them work, but almost wholly
neglecting other areas (e.g. Health; relaxation).
The challenge here is balance. Although
you may have one area of your life, which is awesome but you will never feel truly
fulfilled unless all areas of your life are catered for.
Many people don't realise this and
eventually become very dissatisfied with life. They begin to feel that there is
no point in them trying to do anything because, as far as they can tell, no
matter how hard they try, they can never get what they want (contentedness and fulfilment).
Another reason why they do not ever 'get' what they 'want', is because they are not grateful for the things that they already have. (Watch out on this case!)
The solution is to divide your
efforts into various areas of your life; not just on one or two.
Balance doesn't mean that we have to do great things in many areas; it just means that we have to be aware of the areas of our life and make sure none are neglected. Having all the areas of your life attended to at a level that is fulfilling and makes us feel better about while encouraged to improve than if you had one or two areas going excellently while the rest suffers.
Some of the areas that we can focus on:
Social
Family
Mental health
Physical health
Financial/Sustainability
Spiritual
Career
Relationships
Emotional health
Contribution
Education
Education & Learning
Many youngsters focus much more on the Social, Relationship and Learning areas than any of the others. All of these mentioned areas are important and it really pays to make at least a small effort in each of these areas.
Start by developing the habit of checking up
on each area of your life, setting goals in each and making sure that you do
have a balance in each, is one of the greatest life-skills you can learn and to master.
A good way to measure balance,
particularly when you are first trying to manage your life better is to
rate where you are, in each area of your life, on a scale of 1 to 10.
From a day to day notice on which areas that you have the lowest score and focus on them. This way you will work on the areas that you need to attend to rather than boosting the areas that are already at their peak.
Spend at max of an hour’s effort, on improving an area of your life that has a score of 2, will make a much larger change than an hour spent focusing on an area that is already a 7 to 8.
Balance doesn’t always have to be a formal system. Once you have an idea of where you are in each area of your life, you will be able to instinctively assess on what areas you need to spend more time working on. If you have spent most of a weekend with friends, you will come to realise that the time you spent alone or with your family will make a big difference on how you feel.
Balance also means to be adaptable and flexible when dealing with life's challenges, obstacles and trails.
Those who will survive and strive are not the most 'intelligent' or the 'strongest' of men, but the most adaptable one of them all.
