Take Control of Your Life this New Year

Importance of Balance

Balance is crucial to keeping our stressors at bay and ensuring successful goal-keeping, thus improving our well-being. What does balance really mean though? The definition of balance is “an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady”. This weight can be work tasks, family duties, hobbies, physical and mental wellness, and more. Regardless of what we are balancing, finding that balance is essential to our mental and emotional stability. As balance is achieved, we will find ourselves upright and stable; ready to face the New Year and the challenges it may bring.

For each person, their range of things they need to balance may change. For example, a single college-aged girl will have different tasks on her plate than that of a middle-aged father of two. Be sure to recognize and embrace these differences. As you do so, you will see that everyone can find balance if they make it a priority and reflect on what they need to balance.

Finding balance may seem overrated, however, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health, “maintaining balance throughout our lives is a cornerstone of overall well-being. Balance prevents stress, and we all know stress causes adverse health effects and leads to 75-90% of all physician visits.” Planning out ways to maintain balance may seem overwhelming and one might think that they have no time to find ways to achieve balance. Luckily, you are in charge of how and where you spend your time. If balance is a priority in your life, you happily find a way to make it happen in order to prevent these adverse health effects.

Prioritize and Schedule

There are certain things in our lives that are more important than others. Those things guide and motivate us to become better, more fulfilled, people. Scheduling can help you achieve your goals and help you not waste time.

In each week there are 168 hours. You spend roughly 112 of those hours awake, so how are you going to use that time? What takes precedence in your life? Make sure to take the time each week to list out each of your priorities. How are you going to spend more time on them? Plan for work, social activities, and “me time” and write them down. Evaluate the things in your life that you need to remove or spend less time on. Continually make adjustments until you find that balance.