What is Balanced Living?

Hey all! I hope your day is treating you well.  Mine has not gone as planned at all but that turned out to be a good thing.  I’ve got a little time to dedicate to a few posts I’ve had my mind on for a loooong time: what it takes (IMO) for a balanced life.  It’s strange to me that I hadn’t written about these things sooner since my blog is called My Attempt at Balanced Living.

I’ve read/heard a lot of folks talking about getting healthy or living a balanced lifestyle.  Usually, though, what these people are really talking about is balancing a diet with exercise in order to reach a certain goal weight.  Nothing less and nothing more.  Let’s throw in that disclaimer now :  I have nothing against someone’s goal for a smaller jean size.   I do however take issue with the folks who do so in an unhealthy manner because ultimately I don’t believe that total health has much to do with your jean size anyway.  I know a couple of folks for example, who are in fact really skinny but still suffer from high blood pressure.  Anyway, I digress.  I want to talk about what truly makes a balanced lifestyle.

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To me it’s as simple and as complicated as figuring out the lifestyle that creates the happiest and healthiest you.  In order to accomplish this I feel like you need to find a way to balance several categories of life:

• Relationships
• Body
• Mind
• Spirit
• Self-Actualization

These are  in no certain order and many may find other categories that fit in or rank higher than others for themselves.  That’s the point though.  This is all about what creates the happiest YOU and how you learn to balance them.  Most certainly there are not enough hours in the day to make sure that each category is addressed every single day of your life.  That in itself would be stressful were you aware of it.

Some say that in order to balance it all you’ll need to make sacrifices while others say that no sacrifices are needed.  Me?  I feel making sacrifices is going to be a natural occurrence if you’re to live your life for you and those you love.  We really can’t do it all, all of the time.  Quite honestly, doing absolutely nothing some days makes me perfectly happy

There is so much to talk about regarding each category though.  So far, I have them broken down like:

• Relationships
  • What makes a friend?
  • Four Categories of friendship/relationships
  • The lifespan of a friendship
• Body
  • Eat whatever makes YOU feel and look your best
  • Exercise – It doesn’t have to mean the treadmill
• Mind
  • Dealing with Stress
  • Challenge yourself mentally
  • Live in the Present
• Spirit
  • Finding your inner peace
  • Spirituality
• Self-Actualization
  • How do you find purpose
  • Can you incorporate any of what gives you purpose into your life now?

As you can see, this has been on my mind a long time and I by no means have all of the answers.

Life is a journey right?

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I’m continuously looking for ways to make myself better in these categories.  That’s why this blog is all about my ATTEMPTs.   I’m going to be running a Getting Balanced series based off of the above categories. Primarily, since this blog is somewhat of a journal for me, the series is meant to help me sort out some of life’s big questions in a forum that allows discussion.  Journals aren’t exactly known for having conversations.  However, I’m very aware that there are plenty of people who don’t have it together any more than I do.  So, maybe this can help bring a little perspective to some of those folks too.

If any of you would like to submit your own tips of living your most balanced life please leave it in the comments section or email me @ runner4jhf AT gmail DOT com.  I’ll include your tips in my posts and link back to your blog (if you have one).  I hope the rest of your weekend goes wonderfully.

Have a great night!