Earth Muffin ♥

TGIF fellow bloggies.

I wanted to do an update on balance.

 As you may remember a month or so ago (wow has it been that long already!?) I blogged about trying to find a balance between my workouts and my diet. I went from working out 6 to 7 days a week, doing hard cardio and strength training. Most days I would just do cardio, and skimp out on lifting since I was crunched for time. Well since the end of september I have been taking Zumba classes twice a week on Mondays and Fridays and I adore them. The thing I love about Zumba is that it is fast paced, and energy packed. Most importantly it is FUN! While I love getting a couple miles in on the treadmill or an elliptical, sometimes it get’s boring.

Balance, and the balancing act comes into play in almost every aspect of ones daily life. Wether it is between school and work, or our home and social lives, we all have to do it. Every day each of us makes choices after carefully weighing the pros and cons of each side, and live with the consequences. Balance is a sense of harmony and is essential to maintaining quality in work, and life. Your life is made up of many vital areas including your health, family, financial, intellectual, social, work, spiritual, personal growth and more. Somethings are more important to some than others.

Trying to balance your life and integrate more mindfulness and relaxation in your lives can be challenging, so here are a few nifty tips…

Focus on your priorities – Identify your values and align your life around what’s truly most important to you. Concentrate your time and energy on the things that you value most, your personal self should be first and foremost. 

Manage your time - Careful planning and time management can free up extra time that you can use to be more productive. More time = more time to balance between your daily activities.

Get organized - So much time is wasted on getting ready. Preparing yourself for your next task , getting ready to go here, do this or complete that. Take the time to get things ready the night before, or spend a minute or two doing the dishes so you dont have to do them later. The extra time that you save from being prepared can help you be more efficient and create a more zen like atmosphere.

Be flexible - Accept that needs will pop up that will require your readjustment and perhaps new choices. Forgive yourself when things don’t get done. Stop striving for perfection and allow for more reasonable standards. Simplify your life. Stop over-scheduling and over-committing. Begin eliminating things from your life that really aren’t important to you. Being busy 24/7 doesn’t mean that you are any more important than anyone else—it simply means that you are busy and probably missing out on the things that would really make you have more joy and fulfillment in your life.

When your life is overcomplicated and overfull, there’s little space for what truly matters.

So with my new found ponderings what am I going to do?

For starters I am going to start scheduling more me time. Time where I’m not working, or reading, or working out or anything. Everyone needs a moment where they can just breathe, and I very rarely get those moments. My works out and my diets need a fine tune-up aswell. I stick with my same routine day after day. Sometimes I wonder am I truly living? Or just being? I need to shake things up, take more risks. Have fun and enjoy life, because this is the only one that I am going to get. One thing I really miss is yoga. Over the summer I really enjoyed my practicing yoga, but since school started I have been more crunched for time and havent practiced in ages. Starting today I am going to make time for yoga and make  time for meditation.

One thing that I am thankful for is that I have realized this at such a young age. I have my whole life ahead of me to devote to health, wellness and compassion. That is a true gift.

Michal ♥