My life before the pandemic was getting up in the morning getting dressed and running out with the coffee. Getting the bus in the cold then sitting there connecting to the train and making it to work on time. On the way getting a Starbucks croissant. Everything was on the go, go and go. Television and society have made us believe that if we aren’t on the go we aren’t trying hard enough. The rat race is glorified. Work harder, late nights, weekends, and overtime. That’s how you progress and climb that career ladder. In all this work hard and play later we forgot the important things in life.
Enjoying the moment, spending time with family, and balance. Then came the pandemic. It brought all the go and go to a standstill. It of course bad things but it also paused the entire world. In it came reflection what is our life really meant to be like?
Finding The Balance In life
One of the lessons I learned from the pandemic was balance. If you spend too much time in one aspect of your life and for the North American world it is career, there isn’t time to focus on other things. We often see triangles where they say choose sleep, health, social life, or career. You don’t have to choose the key is having a balance of everything. Because if you don’t give one thing enough time there is a roll-over effect. That’s how people burn out. Did people burn out in the pandemic or were they always close to burnout and didn’t realize until the pandemic?
Health and Human Connection
If you let go of health and human communication for a long time it is not necessary you’ll be able to get it back. When people realize they’ve been neglecting their health or family it is often too late.
People leave and aren’t forever. I don’t necessarily mean death but also if you neglect your friend and aren’t there for their important moments do you think when yours come along someone is going to be there for you? Relationships are like plants you have to keep watering them to keep them alive. We need human connection to survive and stay sane.
Our body is a temple and if we don’t take care of it then it will eventually fail us. What we put into our bodies matters. Whether we move or exercise matters. I remember I used to sit with my backpack on my desk in school as a kid thinking oh what can happen. Now I have back pain. It might not happen then in there but eventually how you treat your body gets back to you. So if you are sitting on your desk straighten that back and put down those shoulders. Posture impacts you. Go get that glass of water and eat those greens!
Now all this might sound like a lot and not like balance. Living this healthy life where you have a social life, sleep and take care of your career sounds unachievable. But when you start small what you achieve with time is marvelous.
So let’s brainstorm – Finding the balance in life
- What part of your life do you think you are not focusing on?
- Do you get time to shower?
- Make food for yourself?
- Sleep enough?
- Play enough?
- Have enough money? And what is enough money?
- Do give your family and friends time?
These are some categories you can think about.
In the categories that you think you aren’t putting enough time in what is one thing, you can do balance it out. It can be something small like spending 5 more minutes in the shower. You don’t have to make huge changes. It all starts with that one small change that gets everything going.
What is one thing that you are giving too much time to? Is it worth it? Can you use that time for something else?
If tomorrow you find out that you are going to die in 1 year what are the things you wish you focused on. Write them down and put a post it on the fridge. Remind yourself of what truly matters.
Comment below and let us know how you are working towards finding the balance in life.
