Have you ever felt out of balance or lack of balance in your day today? I’m not talking about standing on one leg; I mean balance in your life.
Take a work-life balance; you may not work as much, and then you have a bit more time at home, but then you don’t have any time to get all the work done that you wanted to get done.
Work-life balance is a very loose concept. Think about balance as an overall umbrella for our life. As women, we don’t allow ourselves this balance. We help everybody else, we go about our business, and we’re always multi-tasking and always being busy. So let’s bring balance to you first, before anybody else in your life, your family, your boss, your kids, take “me” time.
5 Easy Steps To Regain Balance In Life
1 – Take Your Time Inventory
The first thing I want you to think about is: How much time do you give yourself each day? Just for yourself – not sharing it with anybody else. Not scrolling on your phone. Not multi-tasking. How much time do you allow yourself to be only with yourself, observing yourself, thinking about how your day went, what you’re planning, or simply preparing for your day?
Time inventory allows you to look hard at how much you are truly giving back to yourself.
Once you take note of this measurement, spend the evening taking a bath or a hot shower, or enjoy reading a book. If you feel out of balance, this is the first step.
2 – No Is Not a Dirty Word
Say no to things you don’t want to do, things that don’t fill your cup, or things that are being put on you because you always say yes, and you’re always the go-to person when somebody needs something. Go and say no.
Do not feel guilty about saying no. No is not a dirty word. No is just another way of putting your foot down and feeling confident in the choices you make. No. Practice that. When you say no, you have more time to do the things that make you happy and fill you up!
3 – Bind Your Boundaries
Think about firm boundaries for yourself in all areas of your life, including work, family, relationships, and even community.
How do you see your current life? Is it chaotic? Running around, never feeling happy, content? Or is it that when you set boundaries, you feel guilty that you should do more and please more people before yourself?
We need to establish boundaries as women, especially in mid-life. Even if we love our grandkids, husbands, jobs, etc., we still have a right to have goals for the future that take our time and energy.
4 – Excite and Envision
The best part of setting all those boundaries? You will have time to do the things that fill you up, the things you’ve always wanted to do, the things that get you excited about life again!
Take some time right now to envision what you would do if you didn’t have all of these other “responsibilities” that you put on yourself to try to make others happy every minute. Think about what it is you want and how you would like to see your day-to-day life look right now.
Are you cooking, traveling, doing yoga, or creating artwork? Or maybe just having 30 minutes entirely to yourself each day. Think about it and feel those emotions.
5 – Write It to Win It
Write it down. Write down all the crazy things that you may see and say, “Oh, I would like to live like that!” Writing out your goals and desires clearly will allow you to get in touch with what you want again.
Once you have a passion for your goals and a firm commitment to making the time for them, keeping your boundaries and not giving in to others will be much easier.
What is my boundary? I usually don’t work late at night. My husband and I set boundaries for not working past 7:00 PM. We do not work on weekends. And I stick to this unless it is a work-related trip.
Worth the Wait
If you lack balance in your life, these are the things that I would encourage you to start right now to realign in your direction, self-care, and balance. Say, “Hey, I need me time.” or “I like that idea, but today I want to do this.” Put your foot down.
Just say no. N-O. It’s okay. The world’s not going to swallow you and hate you for the rest of your life. It’s merely something that you want, what you stand for, and have set boundaries for.
All these things combined will help with the balance we crave in life. We need guidelines.
To get balance, start with these small steps, and let me know in the comments which step worked for you or if you need more help with any of the actions or any more ideas on how you can get balance in your life.
