Living a balanced life: what does it mean to you?

rporter610

rporter610

Dr. Rin Porter
Location
Minnesota
I'm interested to learn how others are doing at living a balanced life, or if that is even a goal for people. For myself, I am happy with the time I spend on the computer, reading, walking, shopping, and taking care of my home. But I am not happy with my lack of a social life. I've tried many strategies for dealing with that problem, but without success. So now I've decided to just accept it.

What about you? Are there areas of life that you are happy with, and other areas, not so much? Would appreciate hearing how you're handling life balance.
 

I try to moderate just about everything I do and try to find the fun and humor in just about everything. I've also learned to laugh at myself first and accept that I'm going to make mistakes. I also accept that everything isn't always going to go my way, but when things don't seem to go my way I understand that it's because there is another path that I'm destined to follow. Rather than fight it I've learned to follow those other paths and find the happiness and adventure they provide.

I can't say that there are areas in my life I'm not happy with. There are things that I didn't do that I would liked to have done-learned to play an instrument is one example. But I am also at peace with the idea that some of them I will never do, and in the scheme of things they really aren't important. When I look back, I think (hope anyway) that I've had a positive impact on the world around me, I've made a few changes in my corner of the world for the better, and tried to make things better for everyone with whom I cross paths.
 
Living a balanced life sounds like a very worthwhile goal. Unfortunately my life is very unbalanced and it has been for years. Until about 18 months ago a disproportionately large part of my life consisted in running my own business. I didn't have to devote so much time and energy to it, but for so many years that was my formula for success and I've never been good at breaking old habits. Eventually I passed the burden of the business to someone else and for the first time in years I was reasonably free to organize my life along new lines. What happened was that I became an internet addict. So my life now consists of two activities, my internet addiction, and a painfully long to do list which never seems to get any shorter. To be fair, I have undergone some major life changes recently which require some adjustment, but that's not a good excuse for developing a major addiction. So when I'm on the internet I feel guilty that the to do list is not being attended to, and when I'm working on the to do list I'm feeling major withdrawal symptoms. I need a 10 step program.
 

I just try not to fall over.

My definition of retirement is doing what I like, when I like and only if I like.
Balance? Who cares now? I'm as free as a ten year old playing in the backyard with the dog.
 
Dame Warrigal said:
I just try not to fall over.

My definition of retirement is doing what I like, when I like and only if I like.
Balance? Who cares now? I'm as free as a ten year old playing in the backyard with the dog.
Click to expand...

I agree! Happiest time of my life.
 
I play on the net and not before I get my chores done.
I work in the yard, garden and am a pro weed puller. (no stress)
I also read allot and can not accept fiction reading.
I used to go hunting a lot but backed off from that.
I hunted wild turkeys my whole life and never bagged one.
I also hunted crows and never bagged any as those things are smart and always have a look out.
Bagged a whole bunch of wild ducks. Crawled on my belly for about a mile to surprise them, my partner was a good sport and she looked cute covered in mud.
 
DoItMyself said:
I try to moderate just about everything I do and try to find the fun and humor in just about everything. I've also learned to laugh at myself first and accept that I'm going to make mistakes. I also accept that everything isn't always going to go my way, but when things don't seem to go my way I understand that it's because there is another path that I'm destined to follow. Rather than fight it I've learned to follow those other paths and find the happiness and adventure they provide.

I can't say that there are areas in my life I'm not happy with. There are things that I didn't do that I would liked to have done-learned to play an instrument is one example. But I am also at peace with the idea that some of them I will never do, and in the scheme of things they really aren't important. When I look back, I think (hope anyway) that I've had a positive impact on the world around me, I've made a few changes in my corner of the world for the better, and tried to make things better for everyone with whom I cross paths.
Click to expand...
DoItMyself, I so admire your positive and calm perspective on your life. I think "moderate" is a great term to describe how you've approached living. Thank you for sharing your experience.
 
Josiah09 said:
Living a balanced life sounds like a very worthwhile goal. Unfortunately my life is very unbalanced and it has been for years. Until about 18 months ago a disproportionately large part of my life consisted in running my own business. I didn't have to devote so much time and energy to it, but for so many years that was my formula for success and I've never been good at breaking old habits. Eventually I passed the burden of the business to someone else and for the first time in years I was reasonably free to organize my life along new lines. What happened was that I became an internet addict. So my life now consists of two activities, my internet addiction, and a painfully long to do list which never seems to get any shorter. To be fair, I have undergone some major life changes recently which require some adjustment, but that's not a good excuse for developing a major addiction. So when I'm on the internet I feel guilty that the to do list is not being attended to, and when I'm working on the to do list I'm feeling major withdrawal symptoms. I need a 10 step program.
Click to expand...

Josiah, I can feel the struggle in your words. It's very hard to break addictions and people often conquer one form only to substitute another. I admire your determination to beat yours, and I encourage you to get into a 12-step program. They really work - I know! Good luck. I always enjoy reading your comments in other threads. Thank you for sharing your experience in this one.
 
Dame Warrigal said:
I just try not to fall over.

My definition of retirement is doing what I like, when I like and only if I like.
Balance? Who cares now? I'm as free as a ten year old playing in the backyard with the dog.
Click to expand...

Dame Warrigal, good for you! I like your playful spirit! Thanks for sharing your perspective.
 
darroll said:
I play on the net and not before I get my chores done.
I work in the yard, garden and am a pro weed puller. (no stress)
I also read allot and can not accept fiction reading.
I used to go hunting a lot but backed off from that.
I hunted wild turkeys my whole life and never bagged one.
I also hunted crows and never bagged any as those things are smart and always have a look out.
Bagged a whole bunch of wild ducks. Crawled on my belly for about a mile to surprise them, my partner was a good sport and she looked cute covered in mud.
Click to expand...

Darroll, it sounds like you have a variety of ways to spend your time well and relieve stress. Like you, I do my chores first, and then move on to the things I like (computer work, reading, knitting). Thanks for sharing your perspective.
 
Both of us seem to have a nicely balanced life, but there are times that "balance" can get out of wack. Health, family, work and finances can play a major part in having, or not having, a "balanced life". At the end of this month I will be getting a RC surgery and my wife was informed a week ago that the department she works in will be shutting down by the end of the year. So, that means that our "balanced life" will be/is somewhat "unbalanced"! I have to prepare myself for surgery and PT afterwards and she will be looking a job at "not so good of an age" (67).
 
ClassicRockr said:
Both of us seem to have a nicely balanced life, but there are times that "balance" can get out of wack. Health, family, work and finances can play a major part in having, or not having, a "balanced life". At the end of this month I will be getting a RC surgery and my wife was informed a week ago that the department she works in will be shutting down by the end of the year. So, that means that our "balanced life" will be/is somewhat "unbalanced"! I have to prepare myself for surgery and PT afterwards and she will be looking a job at "not so good of an age" (67).
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your upcoming surgery and your wife's upcoming job layoff. Both of those are tough things to deal with. You're right - these things will unbalance your balanced life! It will take a lot of deep breaths and patience to handle each of them. Keep us informed.
 
I agree, it's an ever-changing juggling act most of the time. Balanced is just a word the so-called experts (life coaches?) use and the media and I think it puts a lot of extra pressure on us that we don't need. I'd prefer to strive for some emotional/mental balance, i.e. keep calm and keep watching netflix LOL. :)
 
Don't mean to harp on and on but as many of you would be aware we go dancing ( Ballroom) weekly we quite often travel to Adelaide and back a total of about 350 km in one day, we often arrive home and get to bed at about 1.30 am
BUT if we didn't do that we would quite possibly never see anyone as we live an an area where sadly ballroom dancing has all but finished, our dancing is called new vogue ballroom which consists of a large variety of different dances from modern waltzes to Rhumba's, they are danced to a set of steps that you need to remember. ( we know about 130 differnt dances) on a night out we would dance 20 of the differnt dances Over a three hour period .The area I live in has approx 13000 people many of the people are farmers and the rest are spread out over severel small towns, the "town" where I live consists of a tavern and a combined shop with the rest being homes our closest shopping is 4km away.
Saying all that if we didn't make an effort we would be fairly isolated, we have no family living here.
We keep or selfs busy with the garden and house and of course, I love this forum, particularly the games, the. Doctors and all the magazines you pick up keep saying USE it or LOOSE it and as mentioned in another post we don't want to end up in nursing homes, that's why we try to keep the brain and the body active we only live once .....
 
Everyone's life has highs and lows. The real key to balance is how a person handles those highs and lows.

As an example, when life throws lows at us, do we handle it with grace and dignity, accepting it as a challenge to improve ourselves? Or do we fall apart, retreat into our shell, and refuse to come out until all the bad stuff goes away? Or are we a bit humble and even more generous when times are especially good? Do we approach life knowing that no matter how "low" things seem there is always someone that has it worse? Do we embrace life, live it fully and love every minute of it or do we spend our life with a chip on our shoulder?

I can never be the person my dog thinks I am, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try.
 

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