Being a SmarterU includes more than just exercising your brain. It also includes making sure you aren't overloading in one segment of your life and enjoying your passions.
[Related article:
Healthy eating and living for kids and teenagers]
Nowadays with busy work schedules, overtime work, deadlines,
further/extra studies, kids, rising petrol prices, inflation, social
obligations, house chores, mortgage repayments, etc, it is getting
harder and harder for many people to stay healthy, stress-free and
happy. Many of us end up disregarding our physical, mental and emotional
wellbeing just to ensure we stay on top of things (or so we think) and
that the bills are paid for, our project deadlines are met, our kids go
to private schools, etc.
What many people fail to consider is: What is the point of doing all of this if you’re not going to enjoy and live a happy life?
Living a balanced lifestyle is the key to ensuring that you can have
time for yourself, your work, your friends, your family and time to
enjoy life and the people and things around you. Admittedly, achieving
one is easier said than to be done. But if you are discipline and really
try to challenge yourself, you
will get there and you would never want to look back.
To help you along your journey, I have listed out some simple tips
and ways to go about balancing your life, work and commitments.
1. Indulge in yourself
By indulging and taking care of yourself, this can significantly
reduce your stress levels and clear your mind so that you’re in a better
frame of mind to tackle any issues, problems and unexpected challenges
that pop up along the way. Reduction of stress is important as high
levels of stress have been shown to significantly impact negatively on
one’s mental and emotional health. Hence, as part of a balanced
lifestyle, activities that are stress-reducing are important and I have
listed out a few ideas to get you started.
- If you have the money and time, go for a massage or spa to pamper
yourself. There is nothing better than having a professional masseuse
nut out all the knots on your back and shoulders. You will feel
energized and rejuvenated after an hour’s long indulgence.
- Get up slightly earlier in the morning and take your time to use the
bathroom, brush your hair, stretch and apply your make up (if you use
make up) before everyone else wakes up. The few extra minutes of
quietness in the morning can be extremely therapeutic and relaxing
before the day really begins.
- Savor your breakfast and cup of coffee/tea. If you don’t normally
have breakfast, this should be the very first thing you change. Eating
breakfast is extremely important as it has health and energy benefits
and can help increase concentration and assist in weight loss. So in the
morning when you’re eating your food, chew slowly on it, sip your
coffee and really appreciate the taste and aroma. Sometimes, it is the
simple pleasures in life that can really make the long day ahead seem
much more manageable.
- If you’re time-constrained and your hobbies include things like
running, playing angry birds on your iphone, going for a walk, reading a
good book, listening to music, knitting, making craft, etc. Do this
during your lunch break. If you have something due soon but you feel
your brain is fried, take that break (even if it is just for half and
hour) and engage in an activity you love. It will give your brain a
chance to relax and re-energise so that by the time you hit your work
desk again, you would be in a more optimum and efficient mindset to
tackle your work.
- If you absolutely cannot afford to take a 30 min break, lean back on
your chair, close your eyes and zone out for 5 – 10 mins. Daydream
about positive things such as the amazing dinner you’re going to be
having tonight, the dinner you have scheduled to see your best friend or
the weekend coming up. Think happy thoughts and when you open your
eyes, straighten your posture, smile and get back to work. You will be
surprise at how simple things can really boost your energy, approach and
motivation.
2. Take care of your body
Since we take time to indulge in ourselves, as part of a balanced
lifestyle, we must also take time to care for ourselves. Caring for
ourselves and our body involves eating a balanced diet and being active
(ie. exercise). Approaching this with a positive can-do attitude will
also make things a lot easier, and in combination with these ideas, you
will be on your way to achieving a balanced lifestyle in no time.
Eat a Well-Balanced Diet
Remember this phase: “
Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness”
(Edward Stanley). The reason why eating well is so essential for a
balanced lifestyle is because having a balanced diet will ensure that
your body is functioning well, you have more energy for your day and you
will have a lower chance of falling sick or developing any
illnesses/diseases. There are a million and one things that could go
wrong if you continuously indulge in an unhealthy diet but it is outside
the scope of this article. If you’re interested and would like to read
up more on it, I would recommend you to read up on the other articles
such as
Nutritional & Vitamin deficiency: What is it and how to avoid it and
A Balanced Diet: What is it and how to achieve it?
- Ensure that your home is always stocked with ready to eat fruits and
vegetables so you can quickly grab them as you head out of your house
to begin your day
- Plan ahead so you always know roughly what you’re going to be eating
for your meals. This reduces the chance of you wanting to have
take-away food and unhealthy home deliveries.
- During your afternoon tea break/5 min break from your work, google
some healthy, easy to make recipes. There are a million of recipes out
there and looking and the pictures will guarantee not only to relax you,
but to also get you pumped and excited to try out your new dish at
dinner tonight.
- 3 meals a day. Especially breakfast. Enough said.
- Eat in moderation. And this does mean enjoying the occasional cake,
KFC meal, Big Mac or pizza delivery when you feel that you have been
treating your body right for the majority of the time! Remember, we are
not going on a diet; we are aiming to have a lifestyle change which
means no strict diets or regime. Just honest good ways to live a little
healthier and enjoy a more balanced and healthy lifestyle.
- Get cooking with the kids. Set aside a day of the week where you get
your kids involved in the kitchen. Get creative and make healthy fun
meals together. Not only are you making sure that you and your family
eats well, but you will be subconsciously passing on the importance of
healthy eating to your kids.
- Don’t follow the crowd: If your workmates or friends around you love
to eat fried foods, take-away and unhealthy meals, you don’t have to
follow them! Recognise that you can be healthier than the people around
you and enjoy looking after yourself.
Exercise
Exercise is not only a fantastic way to reduce stress, it is great
for the waist line, your skin, mental health and ensuring that your
bodily functions are at their optimum. If you’re “too busy” for
exercise, schedule it like how you will schedule your other work
appointments and social events. By committing it down on your calendar,
you are more likely to stick with it and be motivated to do it. Make
sure that the exercise is something you love to do. So for example, if
you don’t like running or hitting the gym, go for a bike ride instead.
Or try something new like dancing, zumba, rock climbing, etc. Be
creative! There are so many other options out there besides hitting the
gym.
3. Prioritise your life
To enjoy a balanced lifestyle, you need to manage all aspects of your
life: Work, health, fitness, relationships, family and mental
well-being. However, realistically, it can get unbelievably hard to
manage all aspects of this and become bogged down with one aspect (ie.
work) and ignore the rest (ie. your diet or time spent with your loved
ones). Therefore, it is vital that you take some steps and tips to
ensure you maintain on top of things so that you can enjoy all areas of
your life.
- Be forward thinking and organized
Plan and think ahead at the start of each week to assess what events are
coming up. Make sure you dedicate adequate time to finishing up your
work and assign quality time for yourself; this includes scheduling time
for exercise, social events and “Me-time”. A good trick to do is to
overestimate the amount of time you need to complete a task (ie. if you
realistically think it will take 3 hours to finish a report, estimate
that it will take 4 hours instead), this will ensure you have more than
enough time to deliver high quality work, spend high quality time with
your friends and yourself. If the task/event took lesser time than
budgeted, you now have some extra spare time that you can use to either
start on the next task, have a break, or catch up with your friends!
- Expect the unexpected and the worst case scenario
Things unfortunately do not always go according to plan, and when this
happens, many of us end up stressing over it and start doing things that
may not be healthy to your body and mental well-being. By expecting the
worst case scenario, you can actively take steps to ensure that that
scenario doesn’t take place or that you have a Plan B ready should
anything go wrong. This is also another reason why overestimating the
amount of time you need to complete a task is very useful as it provides
you with a time buffer to fix anything should things not work out the
way you planned.
4. Be contented and disciplined
When you’re contented, you can actually properly enjoy every moment
of your life and savor the things that are important to you. Many people
get caught up in the whole materialistic world which can drive them to
work more and more hours which consequently impacts negatively on their
health, emotional wellbeing, and relationships with their love ones. It
is important to distinguish between a want and a need because lets face
it, most of the time, we do not really NEED that new BMW car, we just
want it for superficial reasons. Again prioritising what is important to
you (because everyone is different) is important as you will be able to
have a holistic view on what is important and what you need to work and
aim for.
As with everything (especially at the start), living a balanced
lifestyle can be challenging to achieve as it requires you to change
your current lifestyle. Being disciplined and committed is so important
in ensuring that you permanently and sustainably having a healthy diet,
an exercise routine and enough time for your work, your love ones and
yourself. Start off with planning your calendar and diary and make sure
you look at it everyday and stick with it. Doing it with a friend that
is equally or more motivated is also a great idea as you can both
motivate each other and start doing things together (ie. healthy cooking
or exercise activities).
5. Do something you find meaningful in your spare time
Happiness comes from achieving a positive sense of wellbeing and
achievement, and this can occur from developing relationships with
people. When we believe that we have helped another person in a certain
way, chemicals in our brain actually react and make us feel good about
ourselves in a selfless kind of way. Meaningful ways to spend your time
include spending time with your kids learning a new skill (ie. cooking),
volunteering at the local dogs shelter or elderly homes, visiting a
friend in hospital, going to see your grandparents/parents that you
haven’t seen for a while, catching up with a friend that you know is
going through a hard time, or assisting the new colleague of yours in
finishing up his project. There are countless of meaningful activities
that you could be doing and enjoying in your spare time. Remember, the
meaning of life is to live a life of purpose and you can only get the
most out of your life if you can manage all aspects of your life that
are important to you.
I hope this article has been useful to you and all the best!
***Article posted from youroptihealthsite.com
