It’s very challenging to achieve balance in life. Some believe it’s impossible to have a balanced life if you’re committed to succeeding at the highest level. Maybe that’s true, but most people don’t need to become a billionaire or a movie star to consider themselves successful.
Success and a balanced life can coexist. However, you can’t afford to waste any of your time.
A life that’s out of balance includes some degree of suffering:
- Financially. When your life is out of whack, you can spend too much money. If you’re working hard day after day, it’s common to think that you deserve to enjoy your life, so you whip out your wallet. Unfortunately, it’s easy to outspend your income. The pleasure you get from spending money also doesn’t last for long.
- On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re not paying enough attention to work, your income is likely lower than it could be.
- Putting too much or too little attention on work can have negative financial implications.
- Health. If your life is out of balance, you’re likely to exercise too little, eat poorly, and suffer from excessive amounts of stress. You can also suffer from insomnia. Your health is one of the first things to go downhill when your life is out of balance.
- Your relationship with your friends and family can suffer. One of the other casualties of an out-of-balance lifestyle is your relationship with other people. Whether it’s your spouse, partner, children, friends, or other family members, your relationships can suffer.
- Consider the consequences of damaging your relationship with your spouse and children. Are the other things you’re spending time on worth it?
- You don’t have time for the things you enjoy. Do you love to watch football? Go out with the ladies for dinner on Thursdays? Whittle totem poles in the garage? An out of balance life lacks the time necessary to enjoy your hobbies and other enjoyable activities.
- Your mood suffers. Are you cranky, intolerant, angry, or feeling hopeless? Your life might be out of balance. People with an out of balance life often resent the time that people and unrelated activities require.
- It’s not easy to feel good when your life is out of whack. A consistent bad mood is a terrible burden to carry, for you and everyone around you. Everyone suffers when a family member is miserable.
- You lose the ability to focus. A lack of sleep, horrible diet, no exercise, and no social life can tear down your ability to focus your attention productively. As your mind and body wear down, you can’t stay on task as well.
- You’re also spending too much brain power focused on other things. If you’re eating dinner with your family, but lost in your thoughts, you’re not focusing on sharing a meal with your family.
- You either won’t take or can’t enjoy a vacation. If you can’t, or won’t, make time for a vacation, your life is out of balance. This can be a great test to determine if your life is under control. Do you think your life is unbalanced? Plan a vacation and see what happens!
Is your life out of balance? What changes can you make in order to bring it back into balance? It can be a real challenge to maintain balance in your life, but the consequences of failing to be balanced can be severe.
Remember how important your health, relationships, and happiness are to you. Where would you be without them?
Take action today to bring your life back into balance! You’ll be so glad you did!
