Attaining & Maintaining Balance

This year’s draft of the right balance for me. It’s a work in progress and something I continue to adjust and redefine for myself year after year.

Balance and self-care are big buzz words right now - how do you attain them?

Step 1: Always define what these terms mean to you - they mean something different to everyone and what works for some will not work for others. So start by defining what balance and self-care mean to you. Note: as you learn about your habits; practice different versions of balance and self-care; and reflect on your practice, you will start to revise and redefine what they mean for you - this is a great thing! Do not, I repeat do not start this process by spending hours on your definitions - they won’t be perfect the first time. This is part of the process. You must be kind to yourself and allow yourself the time and space for revision (more on this later).

Step 2: Now that you have your definition, you must define your success - visualize what it will look like for you to achieve balance and self-care. Defining your success is key because, again, success is different for all of us. This allows you to take ownership of your practice.

Step 3: Define your purpose - why are balance and self-care important to you? This is what will ground you and remind you on those tough days to keep going even when it gets hard.

Step 4: Create your action steps - what will you do to achieve your version of success? Be as specific as you need to be here, some of us need to add numbers, like meditate 5x/week, and others of us can just say meditate and it will get done. Know yourself and help yourself be successful!

Step 5: Develop a plan to monitor your progress - this could be creating a bullet journal spread; asking yourself at the end of the day/week/month: what did I do to contribute to my balanced lifestyle or self-care?; having a buddy to hold you accountable and check in with on a weekly basis. This step is key to your success and you need to make this something that works for you. Otherwise, you will never know if you achieved it or feel like a failure for not.

Step 6: Go back through the steps, once a quarter, semester, year. This will allow you to analyze your successes and struggles and continue to revise and redefine balance and self-care for yourself. It is human nature to grow, adjust, and need something different at different stages and chapters of our lives and it’s up to us to listen to ourselves , be kind to ourselves, show ourselves grace, and, ultimately, hold ourselves accountable to what we want to achieve.