Is Balance in Life Really Possible? (Installment 2)

TAB’S BLOG:  IS BALANCE IN LIFE REALLY POSSIBLE?

Installment 2

To continue on balance in life:  I have definitely discovered (the hard way!) that, in life & health, there truly is no quick fix or instant gratification that produces lifelong results.  If you or I want to be healthy, body, soul, & spirit, it will cost us.  It will cost us time, effort, money, and possibly pain & heartache as we face our stuff and deal with it.

We must face and get rid of all of our excuses for not doing what we know will bring us long term Optimal Health.  Every day I hear excuse after excuse for why people can’t be healthy.  “It cost too much.”  “I don’t have enough time.”  “I can’t take that many vitamins.”  “Nobody will help me.”  “My husband doesn’t support me.”  “I’m too tired.”  I personally have used them all except the husband one! J

On my balance journey, I’ve realized the truth:  people make time for what they want to have time for and they have money for what they want to have money for.  When a patient is sitting beside me saying that being healthy costs too much while drinking their Starbucks Latte, flashing their professional manicure/pedicure, using their iPhone and iPad, talking about their recent shopping trip, I find it hard to believe they don’t have enough money. 

The above may sound harsh but it’s a truth I’ve had to deal with myself.  I’ve had to put myself on a budget in order to head towards Optimal Health.  Financial problems are one of the biggest stressors in people’s lives.  I love my luxuries (all of the above are luxuries by the way!), but I’ve had to make a choice not to partake in a Starbucks Latte daily and instead pay a personal chef to cook 7 meals a week for me because I need to spend my time elsewhere right now. 

Daily choices on how we spend our time and money dramatically affect our long term health.  When everything in your life is out of balance, it can be overwhelming just to even think about making a change much less doing it!  But you have to start somewhere.  I started with carving out time in my schedule to daily have a quiet time and to exercise routinely.  That decision meant that I had to get up 30-60 minutes early (4 AM!) in order to accomplish it.  I then started keeping a daily gratitude journal.  Then I put myself on a strict budget that I monitor routinely.  I constantly battle with eating healthy and avoiding stress eating but I keep fighting that fight! And my journey continues!

I’ve been studying business principles recently and learned about Parkinson’s Law.  Parkinson’s Law observes that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”  The speaker was talking about how there was no “balance” between family and work.  Family is always first and takes precedence.  He stated that you must schedule your time with family first and not compromise that schedule, and then your work will naturally expand or shrink to fit into whatever time you have left. 

I think this “law” applies in life as well.  What are your priorities in life?  Are these priorities firmly and uncompromisingly fixed into your schedule?  There is one sure fact in health and that is that if you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will.  So, is taking care of your health one of your firmly fixed schedule priorities?  If you set your personal health as one of your schedule priorities, everything else will be forced to fall into line.

I encourage you to take a hard look at your life and schedule and what you are spending your time on.  Figure out your first step towards balance and take it.  Not easy but doable.

“Right now you are one choice away from a new beginning.”

Oprah Winfrey

Sincerely,

Tabetha Smith, FNP-C

Your Fellow Sojourner on the “Daily Choices Matter” Journey