Balancing Your Life in 4 Easy Steps

It's easy to get overwhelmed and fatigued from time to time. After all, the stresses of daily life can quickly spiral out of control and, suddenly, you feel like you've got demands tugging at you from every which way!

Want some balance in your life?

Luckily, you don't have to give your life a complete overhaul to do it! Balancing your life doesn't mean quitting your job and moving to a deserted tropical island. All you really have to do is get YOURSELF balanced. Once you do, all of the external stuff will fall into place.

Sounds easy - but how do you actually DO that?

1. Give yourself some "me time".

What's the first thing you sacrifice when things get tough? Your personal quiet time! You don't feel right cutting out "real" responsibilities, so you figure you can make do by skipping out on "me time".

That's a big mistake though.

The less time you spend relaxing, the worse you're going to feel. Your energy supply won't be able to keep up and even the simplest of responsibilities is going to feel like a giant boulder on your shoulders.

Even if you only take a few minutes to do some quick meditation, read one chapter of your favorite book, or simply sit down outside and enjoying nature, you'll feel much better. Suddenly, the stress won't seem so bad and you'll actually feel peaceful!

2. Take care of yourself.

The best "me time" in the world won't make up for bad habits. If you want to balance your life, you've got to give your body the tools to do it - like 8 hours of sleep every night, a diet chock full of healthy foods, and daily exercise. In addition to giving you extra energy, all of these will make you better able to speak kindly to yourself, instead of drowning in a sea of negative thoughts. After all, when YOU can't cut yourself some slack, you're going to feel like the rest of the world can't either!

3. Stop thinking about the "shoulda", "coulda", "woulda".

Everyone has a mental picture of how their lives "should be". Then, when some obstacle gets in the way, you can't deal with it!

Instead of heaping all of that stress on yourself, be flexible. Just because things "shoulda", "coulda", or "woulda" been different doesn't mean they necessarily would have been better. Plus, when you're constantly trying to live up to unrealistic expectations, you'll never appreciate what you've got.

If you can learn to go with the flow, you'll be able to tackle problems and crises much more successfully. Instead of measuring them up to how things "should be", you'll focus your energy on solving problems - without drama and frustration.

4. Be on the lookout for simple outer changes.

Yes, balancing your life starts from within, but there may be a few things you can do to change your external situation too.

For example, if you get stressed out because you have your son's Little League team over after every win, stop - or, only have the team over sometimes. If it has become too much of a drain on your time and energy, why not ask the other parents to take over the hosting duties every now and then? That way, you can help with the party, instead of taking full command over the party.

Bottom line - there are probably plenty of activities that no longer fit into your desired lifestyle. If you get rid of them, you'll have a much easier time feeling balanced!