Developing A Balanced Lifestyle

Ensuring that we have the right proportion of work, rest and leisure time helps us to feel more in control, to reduce our stress, to feel more fulfilled and therefore to cope better with adverse life events.  There are various ways to develop and cultivate a more balanced approach to life, and different perspectives consider different views.  Often we talk about a work-life balance – the idea that the work we do must be balanced with the life we lead; and for many people ensuring that they work doesn’t completely take over their life is an important consideration.  It’s worth noting, however, that work is a part of life and the key word to consider is ‘balance’ – taking steps to ensure that the activities we engage with are as balanced as they can be, in order to ensure that we give ourselves enough time to do that which we need to do, and that which we enjoy doing.  Work can be and enjoyable, fulfilling aspect of our lives – sometimes it’s the ‘home’ part that needs some attention.  However we consider the balance in our lives, the important aspect is that what we do fulfils us.

A useful way to understand the balance in our lives is to take stock – do a life audit.  Consider how you spend your time and how you would like to spend your time; are you spending your time in the way you want?  Are you managing to do the things you need to do whilst also ensuring you do the things you want to do?  Are you getting enough sleep?  Enough time with the family?  Enough time just for you?  Use the balanced lifestyle clock to help see your average/typical day in a more visual way.  Make am agreement with yourself that you will audit your average/typical day once a month, to help identify any areas in your life that might need a little more attention, or those where you attention is too heavily focused.