- Create an intentional routine and stick to it daily
Establishing a clear and consistent routine requires both dedication and personal commitment to overall well being daily. Though our intentions to stick to routine can be thwarted by what life throws our way, it is also imperative for us to find ways to honor our intentions, even if morning yoga and meditation aren’t always in the cards. Using tools such as journals, daily planners, dry-erase boards, or even post-its can help us stick to our intentions in a consistent manner. Make building a routine a priority in order to cultivate the mindful intentionality you want to welcome in.
- Use personal systems for tracking and managing stress triggers
Whether you’re stressing about finances or managing anxious thoughts, using personal systems to track stress triggers is key for maintaining personal wellness and working towards greater personal balance. Apps for tracking anxious thoughts, spending, personal errands, and professional tasks can be used to help. Think of stress triggers and stress as natural and normal because it is. Allow yourself to implement tools that help manage difficulties in a more proactive way. Though leaning into stress can seem counterintuitive and can naturally make us feel worse before it makes us feel better, allowing ourselves to work with our stress cultivates a healthier relationship with managing the toughest parts of life and helps us build our personal sense of healthy control around the things we can manage.
- Make a personal fitness routine a priority and think of it as a tool for enhancing mental wellness as well.
Physical fitness doesn’t just allow us to feel healthier overall, it also gives us a concrete way to externalize the tension and stress that can lie dormant in our bodies. Dedicating yourself to a personal fitness routine allows you to manage and regulate your body’s stress response more proactively and to give yourself the personal tools to most effectively regulate the daily stresses and let them go with your physical body in mind. Staying committed to our physical health allows us to feel more balance overall and can help enhance other personal changes we are making for deeper balance.
- Establish outlets for all parts of self—emotional, spiritual, creative, etc.
Truly having balance can seem elusive because it requires a level of intentionality that can feel difficult to grasp at in our busy and often distracted lives. These themes aside, finding outlets for our emotional, spiritual and creative selves helps us feel connected more authentically and can also deepen the ways we experience meaning and fulfillment. Even taking small steps like making sure to write or paint, attend yoga weekly or talk to a spiritual guide can help give you the community that can be so grounding in establishing new ways to approach cultivating personal balance.
- Take self-care seriously as a daily practice.
Self-care is often a buzz word and more commonly than not, can feel elusive. If you’ve ever found yourself worrying when trying to relax, remember that this is normal, especially since you are taking personal change seriously. Taking self-care seriously means really committing to giving yourself tools for relaxation and personal peace. This can look very difficult for each of us. From jogging in the morning, to sipping tea and reading a newspaper, to a bubble bath and watching stand up in the evenings, what we do for self-care and to unwind may vary but the universal importance of taking this time is the same.
- Establish work/life boundaries and have ways to keep these practices in check.
Navigating the ever-increasingly challenges of finding personal balance while managing a career can feel intangible at times. Even if it is small shifts, make some rules for work/life balance that make sense to you. Can you turn off your work emails at 6 pm, or is it a job-requirement to be on-call until later? Can you turn off your phone for a couple of hours in the evening? Is it possible to shut off all electronics an hour before bed? Make small, but intentional changes to give yourself more balance and take control back of your time. Even small shifts can help us address psychological blocks to personal freedom. Addressing these areas are crucial for our personal growth, wellness and developing lives that feel rooted in all aspects of our fulfillment.
- Make quality time with loved ones a personal priority.
As we move further and further away from work/life boundaries, making quality time with loved ones can feel more difficult at times. Quality time with family and friends doesn’t just give us a sense of connection or happiness (which is pretty fulfilling on its own), it also allows us to show up for those we care about by giving them our most precious resource: our presence. If you have found yourself putting your personal time with loved ones last in order to show up for others, consider the personal toll this is taking and how much better all aspects of life would feel if you honored this time for yourself. Take the day off and spend it with your kid at the park, just once, for spontaneity’s sake. Call your aunt weekly and sit outside, just taking in the views, instead of cleaning the house while chatting. Even the smallest shifts in how we show up and give our full selves to this can help us feel deeper connections to all those around us.
- Keep a journal or gratitude book.
Keeping a journal or gratitude book is a proven way to deepen personal fulfillment and have a greater likelihood of reaching personal goals. Consider writing down three things you’re grateful for each day and reflecting monthly on the greatest common themes. Consider jotting down personal progress and challenges each day as well. Such daily exercises enhance our clarity and understanding of our personal experience and this reflection gives us deeper insight of how to focus or shift intention for our growth.
- Always work on learning something new.
Whether you’re studying how to cook a new cuisine through online blogs or taking a online investment class, consider always having something new on your plate. This shouldn’t be something that is extremely time intensive or stressful (unless of course that’s what required in what you’re hoping to do)—this should be something that you can fit into your life and allows you to challenge yourself in a new way. Learning new skills is a proven way to enhance our cognitive function and promote personal growth in new ways.
- Create space for giving back in your regular routine.
Giving back is not a selfless empathetic act. Research suggests when we give back, we also allow ourselves to feel deeper connection and fulfillment as well. Create space in your daily life for giving back to causes and aspects of your community that you care about. Whether you’re dedicating yourself to a cause you’re passionate or knitting hats for your local childrens’ hospitals, make community connection an active part of your life.
Stay safe, kind and well and have a wonderful holiday season!
~Delia