How Balanced is Your Life?

As the days gets shorter, the weather gets colder and the holidays approach, we tend to forget about all the pieces in our lives that we are juggling and find ourselves being spread thin.  

Balance is a crucial part of a happy, healthy lifestyle.  Often we forget this while we focus on everything that piles up on us this time of the year.  

I often find it helpful to create a balance wheel from time to time to see what areas of my life I may have stopped attending to.  A balance wheel may include the following areas: physical, mental, emotional, social, environmental, financial and spiritual.

Depending on what you believe is important in healthy life balance these areas may change.  For example some may choose to replace financial with career/education/purpose.  

The important piece about creating a balance wheel is to make it your own.  Once you have completed your wheel and added what your are doing to support each section of the wheel, take a step back. Are any areas missed completely? Are there any areas that are so full you ran out of room?

The purpose of this exercise is not to ensure you have the exact amount of work put into each area but to notice any areas that are being ignored entirely. Or any areas you thought you had been working on but you were mistaken. Life happens!  

Sometimes it is helpful to step back and look objectively at any areas that may need more of your focus. A healthy life balance wheel is a good first step to create the initial motivation needed to make positive life changes.