“Not Having Balance is Not Normal”, Tips of Navigating Balance in Life

I fear I will always praise that I am one of the best people I know that has mastered the art of balance in my life. Sometimes when you talk about balance in one's life it can come across as chaotic. One day school, work, more work, exercising, making time for family, friends and dare I say a relationship. It can sound chaotic, but I think that if you handle it and take it on with grace it can make a big difference in your life. 

I would say one of the first things to prioritize when trying to have a more balanced life is time management. A Lot of people will sit here and tell you the reason you don't have time is because you sit and scroll on your phone for a long time or sit and watch your show for too long. Really, these things don't make a difference, you're not going to do anything dramatically different in your life for not scrolling on social media for 3 hours of your day. However, when you are getting your things done, solely focus on that and make sure you are working thoroughly. Nothing you do for a workout or an assignment or a meeting etc, should take longer than a few hours if it is done thoroughly and you're solely focusing on that when you're doing it. 

Another thing I would stress when incorporating balance in your life is saying yes to things, even if it's the last minute. Just because you have an exam tomorrow or next weekend doesn't mean you can't go out for ice cream or a late-night coffee with your friends. Just because you have work tomorrow doesn't mean you can't get dinner and drinks on a Monday or Tuesday night. We must remember we are still here to live our lives, not just here to go to work or school, come home and be robots until only the weekend to give yourself freedom to live. What I see a lot is people go out of their way to make excuses to not live their lives, you can still do things and get enough sleep, and operate at a good level the  next day and go to work or school or be a mom or be a good friend and girlfriend etc.  

There is a reason i live by the quote “work hard, play hard” you can work and grind in monk mode, because i believe this is important but you also need to have those weekend, or months if you can afford it to go out and do things that also fill your soul and make you happy to live. Doing things that will naturally bring a smile to your face and make you feel at peace with yourself and the life you're living. No matter who you are or what kind of disorders you have, when you are doing things that truly make you happy you will to naturally be “stressed” or have “anxiety”. 

I hope that some of these tips help anyone read or at least open your eyes to the fact that you can have a good balance in your life if you want it. Do not go out of your way to make excuses of why not because you're just putting yourself on hold and you'll wake up one day and realize you didn't live how you wanted to when you were young… and it's also never too late! I work in corporate America 5 days a week, but I was at a time working 6 days a week 12 hour shifts, and I was still able to healthy balance being in a master’s program, seeing my family weekly, talking to my mom multiple times a day, being in a relationship, going out with my friends and taking care of myself as well. I only state this because I want to push the fact that if you don't think about all what ifs’ and blah blah blah you can do whatever you want to do, it's your life, if you want to do it you will.