The 6 Rules for Living a Well-Balanced Life

We all want to have a life in which everything just clicks.  We want to spend our time doing those things that we enjoy or that give us meaning.  And we want to have the right amount of work and free time each day.  And, of course, we want to be able to do what is necessary to be physically and emotionally healthy.  In short, we all want to live a well-balanced life.

The challenge is how do we go about achieving that?  After all, you would think that creating a well-balanced life would be simple.  But it’s not.

Unfortunately, our lives can become off-kilter quite easily if we don’t make choices that promote balanced living.  Below are 6 rules for living a well-balanced life.  Consider applying these rules in your own life, and see your life flow more smoothly than ever!

Live Your Life According to Its Seasons                                                                      

Life has seasons.  In fact, you can break life up into 3 seasons.  From ages 0 to 30 is your first season.  This is the season of life in which your job is to live for you.  This is the period during which you receive both your academic and real-life education.  During this period, you meet new people and figure out what career will suit you.  And you determine in what kind of place you’d like to live.  It’s your time for self-discovery, and your focus is properly on yourself.

Your second season is from ages 30 to 60.  This is the period when life isn’t about you.  It’s about being a responsible human being because people are depending on you.  During this period, you parents, spouse, kids and friends all are depending on you to be a morally upright, financially responsible human being.  This is the season when you step up to the plate and start being of service to your family, friends and society generally.  In fact, this is the period during which you show what you are truly made of.

The third season is from ages 60 to 90 (or whenever you reach your demise).  This is the period when life gets to be about you again.  You likely no longer have parents to care for.  And if you have kids, they are grown up and are responsible for themselves.  Now is the time when you wind up your career and get to indulge in all the activities that you enjoy.

Now, most folks are pretty good at the first and third seasons.  After all, focusing on oneself isn’t hard!  Where people struggle is in the second season. The second season is all about service.  It’s about being the kind of person that other people can count on.  And if you don’t nail the second season, your life can end up being a mess. 

So, to live a well-balanced life, know what season you’re in.  When you are mindful of your season of life, you can focus on the right things.

Money Matters – Create A Life You Can Easily Afford

One way that our lives can feel unbalanced is if we live beyond our means.  A balanced life is one in which we live a lifestyle that we actually can afford.  The problem is that thanks to credit cards, we can live lifestyles that we actually can’t afford. 

The only way to stop living beyond your means is to commit to living under your means.  To live under your means requires you to stop competing with your family members, friends and neighbors as to who has the biggest house, the fanciest cars and the nicest clothes.  Realize that is a competition you are never going to win.  Someone is always going to have better stuff than you! 

Instead, to live a well-balanced and relaxed life, you need to live under your means. One way to do that is to stop buying stuff and focus on taking great care of what you already have.  For example, it is far more pleasant to have a smaller home that is tidy, clean and nicely decorated (and that you can afford!), than to have a large home that is cluttered with overpriced knick-knacks that you’ve gone into debt to purchase. 

So, instead of shopping for things you can’t afford, make caring for what you already have your hobby! Become a home improvement expert and fix up your existing home.  Be sure to take your car every week to be washed and learn how to detail the interior.  And take good care of your clothes and other belongings.  If you become an expert in home, car and clothing care and repair, you won’t even think about spending money on new stuff!

Figure Out a Work-Life Balance That Works for You

Part of having a well-balanced life is having the right work-life balance.  That means working the right number of hours per week for you.  And everyone is different in this regard.  For instance, my husband loves working at his job.  So, he can work a long week and be very happy with that type of schedule. 

But some folks need more down time.  The challenge is that there are trade-offs.  The more hours you work, the more money you make.  And the less hours you work, the less money you make.  That’s just a fact of life.

The key to getting to the right work-life balance is to figure out your sweet spot between the number of hours you want to work and the amount of money you want to make.  For instance, I have a friend who is a professor.  He could make significantly more money in the private sector.  But he enjoys his free time and being a fully involved father.  So, being a professor is his professional sweet spot. It allows him to make enough money and yet still have the free time that he desires.

Give some time to considering what is the right work schedule for you.  Take into account your expenses and savings goals.  Then figure out a job and a work schedule that meets both your income and free time requirements.  If you do, you’ll be taking a big step toward having a well-balanced life!

To Create a Well-Balanced Life, Make Your Physical Health A Priority

To have a well-balanced life, you need to spend part of each day caring for your physical health.  In fact, caring for your physical health is arguably the most important thing that you do each day.  After all, if your body isn’t healthy, it’s hard to enjoy life.

And I won’t sugarcoat it.  Being physically healthy takes work.  You can’t be healthy if you don’t exercise on a daily basis.  Now some people have exercise incorporated into their daily routines.  They either walk to work, or they do a lot of housework.  But if you’re like me, and you have a sedentary job working at a computer, you have to intentionally incorporate exercise into your day.  Otherwise, you quickly will put on weight and your joints will become stiff. 

In addition, being physically healthy takes self-control.  I’ll admit that in my younger years, I wasn’t as careful as I should have been about my diet.  On occasion, I ate chips and drank soda.  However, now that I’m older, I realize how critical it is to have a good diet.  As a result, I no longer eat junk food.  I also don’t eat meat or drink alcohol.  Instead, I occasionally eat fish and mainly eat legumes and vegetables.  I’ll concede that giving up certain foods and drinks takes self-control!  But I don’t mind because I love being healthy.

So, be mindful that part of living a well-balanced life is having daily habits that promote your physical health.  Don’t take your physical health for granted!  Choose to exercise regularly and eat well, so that you can go through the day feeling great!

Don’t Neglect Your Spiritual Health

The one area of life that many people neglect is their spiritual health.  They then are left feeling unbalanced and off-kilter, and they can’t figure out why. 

Realize that your spiritual health is what allows you to go through life with a level of calm and wisdom that you wouldn’t otherwise possess.  Spiritually healthy people face their problems without flying off the handle or behaving dramatically.  Instead, they are able to keep their problems in perspective and see the bigger picture.

And realize that it doesn’t matter how you pursue a spiritual life.  You just need to have some sort of spiritual practice. For example, I was raised in the Christian faith, so I attend church as part of my spiritual practice because that feels comfortable to me.  But I also am a student of Buddhism because Buddhist teachings make sense to me. 

The key is to choose a spiritual practice that inspires you to be a kinder, more compassionate and more peaceful person.  As a simple example, my spiritual practice inspires me to be more peaceful. As a result, I don’t argue with other people.  That’s because my spiritual practice has led me to value peace.  Peace is simply more important to me than the momentary pleasure I might get from telling someone off.  That is a simple example, but there are countless other ways that my spiritual practice inspires me to be a calmer, wiser and more peaceful person. 

So, spend time working on your spiritual health.  A spiritual practice is a critical piece of a well-balanced life. 

For A Well-Balanced Life, Serve Others

A well-balanced life involves service.  Part of your day should be spent serving others.  If you simply live for yourself and don’t actively take care of anyone else, your life will feel hollow.  You’ll feel like something is missing.

It may seem illogical, but you will gain more happiness from helping others than by helping yourself.  That is because as human beings, we are created to care for and help others, whether they be other people or animals. 

Over the years, I’ve known people who were unhappy.  They went through life sad or annoyed or even angry.  And their problem was obvious.  Their attention was focused solely on themselves.  Their only concern was how they could meet their own needs.  Helping others was not on their agenda.  Or, if they did help others, they did it grudgingly. 

But if you want a well-balanced life, you have to get in the habit of helping others.  And it isn’t enough to simply be helpful.  You also need to learn to find joy in helping others succeed and be happy.  For instance, I feel tremendous joy when I’m able to help my daughter.  When I’m able to help her succeed, that makes me so happy!  I also feel the same way when I am able to help my husband or friends.  I enjoy witnessing the happiness of others.  And when I can help others succeed, I enjoy it even more!

If you are seeking to live a more well-balanced life, consider following the approaches above.  Realize that there is more to living a well-balanced life than simply having enough free time.  Rather, a well-balanced life requires us to use our waking hours in a way that allows us to be as happy and healthy as possible, and to live a life that is truly meaningful. (To read about 5 great habits to boost your physical and mental health, click here.)