Welcome to the first installment of How To Tuesday.
I’ve been wanting to establish a weekly series and decided to play off of the title of my blog. What you will find here will be posts focused upon many different topics from serious (such as today’s topic) to fun (I will show you the process of making one of my wreaths). I do want to add a disclaimer that I am a trained mental health care professional but I do ask that if you are feeling you need additional help to please consult someone in person. Please do not consider my posts to take the place of a form of therapy. When needed my posts will always contain up to date research but it should never be taken as the only information you receive.
Today I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite (and least favorite) activities. I regularly complete this activity myself and have also found myself not wanting to do it (because I knew what I would discover).
How balanced do you find your current life is? If you are like many people, you haven’t even given thought to the balance in your life. You simply get up in the morning and do what you do every morning. You keep doing what you are doing because you don’t have time to do anything different and it seems to be working (or so you think). You have children. You have a stressful job. You are a caregiver or are tending to a crisis. I now want you to think of the pieces of your life as a wheel. Below you will find 12 areas which have been found to be significant in having a balanced life. Consider zero (0) as being empty and 10 as being complete and full.
Like a wheel, if there is an area in our life that is not balanced, everything is off.
I am realistic that not every area may be a 10 but I also feel that to have a balanced life we need to have each area as balanced as possible.
Take some time to review the areas of your life. Are you satisfied in your relationship? Do financial worries continue to cause you stress? Is your professional path taking you in the direction that you would like to go? Have you been ignoring physical issues and pains in your body?
This exercise requires that you take some quiet time to reevaluate the components of your life. It’s a check in with yourself to evaluate what you may need to focus upon. Many years ago I brought a copy of this wheel home and placed it in my journal to complete. It continued to sit there folded up for several weeks and I found myself even journaling about the fact that I was not completing my balance wheel.
I knew that my life wasn’t balanced and writing it down meant facing it. I wanted to stay in denial but my denial wasn’t comfortable.
I am in the process of doing a new balance wheel for myself. As often happens, events in our life cause us to become off balance. However, the importance is knowing we can rebalance ourselves.
Realize that you will not be able to address every area at once. Prioritize your areas of need and begin to take steps to make changes. If you want to change your health, scheduled a physical. If you find yourself feeling as if you don’t have a hobby or volunteer to list, think about things you enjoyed as a child or young adult and causes which are meaningful to you. Remember acknowledging that something is off is the first step.
Let me know your thoughts on balance in your life (and How To Tuesday)
Linking up others who are providing encouragement at Jack of All Trades
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I am about to print this off! I’ve never thought to do this but as someone who is really bad at reflecting, this may be the perfect thing to help me really evaluate my life- rather than just letting the days go by (which I often feel is the case).
Thanks for sharing! x
I am so glad to hear you are going to print this off! I think we all have a difficult time slowing ourselves down. Slow yourself down with some coffee and sit down with everything. I would love to hear how it goes for you. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
The wheel is such a great visual tool. It shows that things that can consume so much time are actually just one slice of a balanced life. Interesting perspective!
I’m so glad this was helpful!
That graphic is seriously awesome! Thanks friend!
Thanks Shannon!
I love the wheel as a visual! I’ve heard people talk a lot about balance before, but this really puts a picture to it for me and as a result I can see the areas that I need to add or subtract much easier. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad this was helpful. I think most of us are visual and it is only when we see it in that format we are able to truly understand. Keep me updated if you are making changes. š