Emma Seibold is a yoga teacher, nutritional coach and founder of Urban Remedy Cleanse. She offers her tips on achieving a balanced and happy life.
What does balance mean exactly? Balance means finding time (which really means making time) to dedicate to the things that are truly important to you. For me, it's my personal yoga practice, eating healthily, sleeping well, study and personal development, and relationships.
Given that there are a finite number of hours in the day, it can be tricky to strike a balance between what you have to do and what you want to do. Here are some suggestions for creating balance in your life.
Make incremental changes in favour of balance
You don't have to completely change your life; just do one thing at a time to work towards balance. There might be 10 things in your life that you would like to dedicate more time to. Choose one and make a small, but permanent change in your life that means you are spending more time and energy on it on a regular basis.
Don't be afraid to not compromise
It's okay to choose a few things in your life that are so important to you that you won't compromise on them (for me it's getting up at 5.30am for yoga which is not always popular with my boyfriend). Decide what these are for you and let others know that these are things that you won't compromise on.
People understand when you explain to them how important they are to you. Sometimes you will need to be flexible, but it's actually okay to not compromise on these important things for the majority of the time.
Do less to do more
Take time out every now and then to ask yourself, "Is this really important? What could I be doing right now that's more meaningful to me?" It's likely that you'll find that you spend quite a bit of time doing seemingly urgent, but unimportant things and so neglect the things that are more important to you.
Get up an hour earlier
You will be amazed at how much more you can get done in the first hour of the morning, compared to the last hour of the night. Try it sometime.
Write yourself a list
One of the secrets to achieving balance is being organised. The more organised you are, the better you can manage your time in favour of balance. Spend five minutes now deciding what's important to you and how to work it into your life. The actions can be big or small and you don't have to do them all at once.
Here's my own current list to give you an idea.
Value and action (make it specific)
Yoga practice: Get up at 5.30am Tuesday to Friday for yoga every week.
Eating well: Go shopping on Sunday afternoon and buy healthy, fresh ingredients for dinner during the week.
Sleeping well: Go to bed by 10.30pm during the week and wake up before 6am.
Personal development/study: Read A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.
Relationships: Call Mum at least once a week. Organise a social event for my best friends.
It's really quite simple to find balance if you take some time to work out what's important to you and prioritise those things. Good luck!
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