For me, finding balance in the wilderness that is everyday living has always been one of the greatest challenges. I’ve been revisiting the EPIC series, The Secret Life of Us lately… and inspired by the character Kelly’s need to ace the Trifecta (Work life, Family life and Love life), I’ve since developed my own system for maintaining sanity. A little something I like to call FLOPSIES.
8 Points of Balance and Wellness
Family. I define this as spending time with or doing something nice for members of your family. When you’re cooped up at home a fair bit, and have little time to spend being a social butterfly… it’s easy to begin to feel really disconnected and detached from the rest of the world. So for me, having breakfast and a chat with my mum everyday has made me feel connected and centered again.
Love. Once again, being kept busy running in the rat race, expressions of love become scarce. But as nurturing actual relationships take more time and effort than I can spare right now, to fulfill this category, I count everything from telling a friend I love them, to conversations with someone I may be crushing on haha.
Occupational. This currently accounts for most of my time, but I’ve been focusing on it in different ways lately. Discovering occupational wellness means exploring our true purpose and calling in life, learning to cope with work stress, working toward our goals, and finding a career that lines up with our ultimate dreams. Your occupation is what you’ll spend most of your time doing, so you want it to feel meaningful. This requires taking directed steps to get in touch with who you are and what you want from your chosen career. I spend a treasure trove of time making lists, as some of you know… and am now trying to make those pipe dreams I list into reality.
Physical. Staying fit has never been very easy for me. While I’ve never struggled with issues of weight or anything, I hate that I can’t run for 5minutes without feeling like my lungs are on fire and getting a stitch! And being a food lover, it’s a bit of a constant challenge trying to eat healthy, as well as balance it with exercise. So for me, this point is all about having a lifestyle based on good habits and supporting my level of fitness.
Social. Relationships of all kinds have been a major source of neglect for me this year, and thus, a major source of guilt. Becoming a borderline recluse as a result or spreading myself a little too thin, I’m now dedicated to sharing the friendship love better than I have been.
Intellectual. This category is about mental stimulation for me. Concentrating on it is helping me fall back in love with life and sparking my imagination in a million ways. I’ve been reading more, watching things that inspire thought, writing and creating art! So far it’s been a fabulous journey of exploration and wonder.
Environmental. I’ve always known that my mood is wildly affected by my surroundings, be it people, places or objects. When my workspace is clean, organised and clutter free, I’m much for likely to be able to concentrate and be productive. Despite everything I do to the contrary, when I need to really concentrate and get something done, I revert to minimalist ways. There needs to be silence and only the necessities surrounding me. I’ve also read that “you feel better when you connect with nature and care for your natural environment. Acts of caring, whether extended to your personal surroundings or the world at large, create simultaneous feelings of self-care”. So I’ve been allotting a little time everyday to keeping my personal and workspaces tidy, throwing out things that might otherwise hung around for ages only to be brutally discarded later, and going for nature-appreciating walks, watering the garden and so on.
Spiritual. This is actually the hardest and least achieved on my list. I don’t do too well with broad, vague definitions, and this encompasses… a whole lot. I’ve taken spiritual wellness to mean, clarifying my beliefs and values so I can truly live by them. We each have our own, individual spiritual journey, and I’m currently working on seeking meaning and true purpose in life. In many ways, this means working out my connection with the universe, and what I contribute to it. So it’s safe to say, this is one facet of wellness that will most likely never be completely clarified.
So that is my current, daily system… I’d love to hear about other people’s individualised systems too if you have them.
Irninology 