3 Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Balance
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about burning out. And while it I wrote it from the perspective of blogging, I think it actually applies to a lot of things.
And yet here I am, 6 months later, not listening to myself. Life is temporarily a little crazy. We haven’t had a bathroom at our house for the past week and a half which means we’ve been living out of a suitcase at my parent’s house. Their house is lovely but it’s not my house with my stuff and my bed. I haven’t gone grocery shopping for over a week because I haven’t had time to cook anything. We’ve been living off takeout and frozen pizzas.
Then on Tuesday evening I thought to myself, oh no, I haven’t written my blog post for tomorrow!
It’s the same feeling I get when I’m planning to go to the gym and life derails my workout.
It’s the same feeling I get when I’m planning to make a healthy dinner and then things come up and I’m digging through the freezer for another frozen pizza.
It’s the same feeling I get when I’m planning to finish painting the bathroom but then I realize it’s going to need two coats…
The point is, life happens. My goal for this little ol’ blog is to inspire people to live a healthier, happier life. Sometimes that means eating some kale and sometimes it just means cutting yourself some slack and not stressing out about the small things. I think stressing about missing a workout is more unhealthy than just happily skipping it because life gets in the way and sometimes a day off is exactly what I need. When I read this post from Georgie, it really hit home. Once I stopped drooling over those almond butter sandwich cookies, I took her message to heart.
“At the end of the day it’s ok to take breaks. Hustling your face off only works for so long. Some seasons you need to, but breaks, ones you take guilt free, are good. In fact, the more you take mini breaks the better you get at getting back to the groove, and the less taking time off throws you off.”- Georgie, of In it for the Long Run
She’s so right.
With that, I’ll give you my three tips for maintaining a healthy balance.
- Don’t give yourself false deadlines. In my head I think, I have to have that blog post done tonight. I have to go to that workout class in the morning. I have to finish that recipe tomorrow. But guess what? I generally don’t. These aren’t life altering circumstances and it’s not that big of a deal.
- Put things in perspective. What’s really going to happen if you miss that workout tomorrow? Your muscles won’t turn to jello in 24 hours. A slice of frozen pizza instead of a salad isn’t going to kill you (but you could also enjoy pizza salad!).
- Cut yourself some slack. As Georgie put it, hustling your face off only works for so long. Sometimes you need to give yourself a little wiggle room in order to be your best self.
So all of this rambling is to say that my goal is to take a step back and evaluate. While the Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting schedule has worked well for the past six years, I think I’m ready to give myself a little more flexibility and that might mean a few breaks. Isn’t that what living a healthy life is about?
Thank you for posting on your blog even when your life is crazy…I always smile when I see your heart logo appear in my e-mail in-box. Hope everything gets back to a manageable pace for you soon.
Thanks for sharing this, I could def use this post right about now. Life is busy and it’s important to remind yourself that once in a while your mental and physical health need a day off too.
I needed this right now. Last year we were in a similar situation with a huge remodel and we host Christmas and cut it to the wire so I can relate. With no kitchen I had a whole que of posts ready to go. This year things have been busy and now even busier and I’m trying to keep up with the blog with enjoying life and getting things done and focusing on what matters most, family. With more family needing help from me this year it’s really hard and I’m getting social media and blogger burn out. 🙁
These are great tips and I completely agree with you that sometimes we make more stress for ourselves than we need to. I learn that more and more as I get older. I guess age does that to us. 😉
I love to run and find that always helps me stay balanced.
Thanks for sharing this. I could feel all the stress knots in my neck and shoulders reading this! Ha! I definitely need a break and a good massage.
Wow I cannot even imagine the stress that puts you through. I’m glad you are finding balance through it all. I think it’s so easy to give people advice but so hard to take it for ourselves.
putting things in perspective is a really great tip. I need to work on doing that. Thank you for these liz!
Amen! I think we all feel like that at different times and the false deadlines thing is definitely something I do to myself. I used to type up weekend recap posts on Sunday until I realized that I hate opening my laptop on Sundays and would much prefer to just enjoy what’s left of my weekend. Nothing bad will happen if that post goes up late Monday morning instead!
Pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy that frozen pizza, friend!
Chris,You’ll note in your excerpt that Dr. Smith gives FTME the benefit of the doubt regarding intent.The emphasis of the final statement is not a personal attack, but a statement that the end result is a serious matter indeed.The conversation, in my opinion, is not on FTME’s intent, but (a) whether or not his testimony is deficient and (b) whether that deficiency (assuming one exists) results in a false gospel.Regardless of how we all ultimately decide on the issue, the matter deserves serious reflection and does have serious consequences.– Todd
For me, I tell myself…. You make the rules. You can decide when you want to do what and when. No one is going to die if you don’t finish that RIGHT THEN AND THERE. That being said, I am not a procrastinator so I really don’t have much stress in my life because I am not leaving things to last minute.
The only balance I struggle with a tiny bit, is balancing life vs. work. Since I work for myself, it’s hard some times to break apart work vs. life. This past year was mainly focused on planning and wedding, and put work a little bit on the back burner. I felt guilty, but at the same time told myself – this is a once in a lifetime experience and event, so enjoy every second! And that’s what I did!
This is so true! I’ve been on a stressful hectic schedule lately with work and it’s been hard to keep up with blogging work. I always give myself false deadlines and then feel awful if i miss them! Really needed to heat this today!