Monday, January 1, 2018

10 Rules for Balanced Living in 2018

2018 is here. Use this New Year to focus your attention on how you want your life to look moving forward. Are you going to keep telling yourself how hard it is to change your current situation? Are you going to continue to let fear hold you back from living your best life? Or are you ready to start a new chapter with positive change and a positive attitude? If you answered yes, here’s how.

Below are my 10 rules for bringing in the New Year with balance and a new outlook on life.

1. Set boundaries

As women and mothers, you often try to please everyone and feel responsible for how others feel. Often times, this results in taking on more than you can handle. Learning to say no provides boundaries and reduces your chances of becoming overwhelmed and experiencing burnout. Learning to say no provides you with the extra time you need to recharge.

2. Create Your Own Happy

Happiness has been defined as a state of well-being where your life is meaningful and satisfying. But everyone’s definition of happiness is different. It is an emotion that is brought on by a number of different scenarios and experiences. Creating your own definition of happiness, and not comparing it to others, can lead to your success and the achievement of your goals.

3. Believe in Yourself

Believing in yourself entails thinking positive thoughts about who you are as a person and what you can achieve. Positive words can improve your mood, increase your self-confidence, and help you get through a tough day. Developing a habit of feeding positive words or statements to yourself can boost your self-confidence in the long run.

4. Create your own story

Reflect on your current situation. Do you find that you’re telling yourself the same stories? The same excuses? The same justifications? Every day you make choices about your personal life, career and relationships that are within your control. You choose whether you are going to wake up and exercise or sleep in. Whether you are going to surpass or simply meet expectations. Whether you are going to mend or surrender relationships. You choose if you are going to continue to define yourself based on past experiences. You can cultivate balance by changing your story and adopting the attitudes and choices that bring you peace.

5. Practice Gratitude

Practicing gratitude is a phenomenal way to continuously remind you of everything that you should be thankful for. It’s proven to lower stress, improve sleep, and boost your mood. Taking time each day to reflect on what you are grateful for will put life’s challenges in perspective.


6. Put selfcare first

Not taking time to take care for yourself can easily lead to burnout. Making self-care your foremost task is important for balanced living. Decide what your “me-time” looks like and then pencil it in your schedule. Without this scheduled time, you can become disconnected and irritable.

7. Live life to the fullest

It has been shown that people who choose to live in the present and not dwell in the past lead happier lives. Enjoying the journey means embracing your successes and accomplishments and those of your loved ones. It means remaining optimistic. It also means taking one day at a time, instead of stressing over the future and what you cannot possibly foresee or have control over. It means not taking the little things for granted.

8. Teach people how to treat you

You must be your own advocate for maintaining a healthy mind, body and spirit. No one is going to stand up for you, like you will. Love yourself first so you can know your worth and what you deserve. If you want to remain healthy and balanced, you must expect others to treat you with the respect and consideration you deserve. You must engage in difficult conversations when others continue to take you for granted. You must teach them how you need to be treated.

9. Give back

Being in the presence of others who share the same mission can increase your sense of belonging as well as promote relationships, both personal and professional, that can last a lifetime. Giving back also gives you a sense of purpose and helps to develop a personal sense of accomplishment.

10. Awaken spiritually

“Some people awaken spiritually without ever coming into contact with any meditation technique or any spiritual teaching. They may awaken simply because they can’t stand the suffering anymore”- Eckhart Tolle
This quote demonstrates how important being connected spiritually is to improve your quality of life. Spiritual beliefs and practices are how you can connect to others. It helps people to create positive feelings and a sense of inner peace.

If you are a working mom looking for a work-life balance action plan for the New Year, my new soon to be released book Take Back Your Life: A Working Moms Guide to Work-Life Balance is the resource to have. To receive notification when the book is available sign up here

Wishing you prosperity in the New Year!
Dr. Lisa

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