Balance- At a Glance

Take a moment to think about yesterday. Consider how much time was spent doing the following:

• Working
• Family Time
• Exercise
• Relaxation
• Meals
• Chores

At a glance, was your day well balanced? Was your day monopolized by work? Did you sacrifice family time to get chores done? Did you forget to take 30 minutes to relax? Did you get some dedicated exercise time in?

If we can strive to balance each day, finding time for a variety of meaningful activities, then we are one step closer to leading healthy lives.  I believe that in this hyper-paced compulsively scheduled rat race we can forget to maintain balance in our efforts, resulting in a lopsided picture of a healthy happy dynamic life.

This applies to the healthiest of choices! If you were to run 2 hours every day that would be a huge time commitment away from your kids, for example. Realizing this, alternatives could be sought such as a family bike ride, scooter beside running parent, etc. Need to get in some relaxation time? Double duty with family time and snuggle in bed watching afterschool TV. Be creative, but do what you MUST to find a balance in your day-to-day. I often find myself sitting down to the computer and my inner voice tells me "You have had enough work time today", so I choose another activity- a chore, some playtime with the kids, or meal prep.

Of course this is just an example. Days are bound to be unbalanced. However, as we focus on the days we can also look at the weeks and months- the patterns of balance over cycles of time. Awareness alone is a huge step towards healthy! Practice self-consciousness in this way to find your balance.