We hear of the term, “a balanced life” so often that it is important to ask the question, “Does balance really exist?” If so, what does it mean? As much as you try, you cannot do everything at once. There are only 24 hours in a day and the chances that you can spend equal amounts of time in every important area of your life is zero to none.
In fact, just work alone can take up to 8-10 hours of your day not including travel. If sleep is a part of your daily habits, wink, wink, then deduct another 6-8 hours from your available time. This leaves you 6-10 hours for your remaining roles. It is easy to see that the term, “a balanced life” has nothing to do with balance of time itself.
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” – Thomas Merton
What balance means for me is probably extremely different from what balance means for you. It comes down to our Personal Philosophies and our values.
There is no perfect formula for balance. For person X, a balanced life might look like this:
For person Y, a balanced life might look like this:
To define what Balance means for you, you need to take into consideration that life is constantly changing. The right balance for you today, may not be the right balance for you the next day. As your life changes, so may your priorities. We have seen many career priorities change with the arrival of a son or daughter. So if balance means different things to different people, how can you achieve balance?
How do you know when you have achieved a balanced life?
The way to determine if your life is in balance is by how you are feeling about the different areas of your life. To have a balanced life means that you have a handle on the various elements in your life. That you don’t feel tugged or pulled into any direction. If you were to reflect on any area of your life, you do so with a calm and clear-headed conscious.
The one constant in knowing you have a balanced life is the feeling of accomplishment and happiness. There is no guilt that in spending time in one area, that you are sacrificing another area altogether.
Often times, the feeling of being overwhelmed is when we feel out of balance. When one area of our lives is taking too much away from another area of our lives.
Balance is also about the ability to live in the moment. The way to ensure one area does not encroach in another area is to “Be Present” wherever you are. – Elita Torres
I wrote a Blog Post about, “The Importance of Living in The Moment”.
How do you keep and maintain balance in your life?