Guest Post: 5 Tips for How to Discover and Maintain a Healthy Life Balance

September 24, 2015

HappyThursday everyone! Today I am thrilled to introduce you to my new blogging friend, Carly from FitLiving. I started reading Carly's blog about 3 months ago and have been hooked. She shares how she manages a healthy lifestyle, delicious recipes and I find her blog inspiring and encouraging! I hope you all go check out her blog and enjoy this little treat from her today!
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Between work, family, social commitments, and everything in between, it can be hard to achieve the right balance in life to be able to do it all, and do it well. Want to know a secret? I don’t think there is a “perfect” balance that can be achieved. However, I do believe that there are proactive steps we can take to find a life balance that allows us to function at our best and find joy in life without compromising our health or our relationships. I have 5 tips for you below on how to find and maintain a healthy life balance!



Let me start by asking you two questions. Do you think finding balance in life is important? Chances are, you answered “yes”. Second question: Do you feel as if you have struck a balance to be able to live life at your best without feeling stressed and overwhelmed, and do you find joy in your everyday? You might be shaking your head “no” to this question and that’s okay! Many of us know that balance is important, but we are unsure of how to get there.

Finding balance will look different through various life stages and for each individual. This is true when you are single, married, working full time, have a family, or any other life stage you find yourself in. It’s important to be open to change through various circumstances and realizing that what works for you might not work for your neighbor, friend or even your significant other.

5 Tips for a Healthy Life Balance

Set your priorities. Knowing who you are and what is important to you is the first step towards finding a healthy life balance. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when all of our responsibilities are competing for that number one priority spot. When I start to feel like I have too much on my plate, it’s important to take a step back and realign my priorities.

For example, time with my husband every evening when we both get home from work is on the top of my list, but it’s easy for me to crowd our time with other menial tasks. I have to remind myself that my husband comes first and the cleaning, or the blog work, can wait.




Take time for yourself to be able to better care for others. As an introvert, time to myself is important to me, as it helps restore my energy and creativity. Unfortunately, it’s something that I just don’t get enough of. I’m not talking about time alone working behind my computer. I mean time where I can just be me, whether it’s going out for a girl’s night, watching some reality TV with my husband (don’t worry, he loves it, too), getting lost in a good book, or coming up with new recipes in the kitchen. For you, this might look like a hot bath, a trip to the grocery store without kids, or indulging in a pedicure.




Schedule your days to fit exercise in. I have read a lot of articles on the habits of successful people and the consistent message I find throughout is to schedule your workouts like you would any other appointment or meeting. For me, fitness is a big priority but also something that I can easily push to the side. To help myself stay on track, I look at the calendar on Sundays and schedule in my workouts for the week so that I can’t use the excuse “well, I didn’t have time” later. Short on time? Just get your body moving by going for a walk, doing a quick HIIT workout, or taking a fitness class with a friend (win-win!).


  
Focus on nutrition. Have you heard the phrase, “You are what you eat?” There is a lot of truth behind this simple phrase as I have found that focusing on whole, nutritious foods has increased my energy and overall health. One way that I ensure I maintain a healthy diet is to plan out my meals and go grocery shopping over the weekend. This helps me stay on course during the week, as I know I have all of the ingredients I need to whip up a simple, healthy dinner. I also make enough so that I can take leftovers for lunch most days to avoid the temptation of the nearest drive-thru or whatever junk food might be in the office break room.


Create boundaries regarding your technology. In a world where most things thrive on technology, it can be hard to step away from it sometimes. However, creating boundaries will help you spend better quality time with others and decrease the amount of stress in your life. For me, I try to leave work at work when I head home for the day, put my phone away when I’m on a date night with my husband, and shut off all technology at a specific time at night. Do I achieve these things all the time? No, of course not. But remembering that texts, emails and notifications can all wait until later takes the pressure off of feeling like I need to respond right away.


These tips will help get you started in finding a balance that works for you and your lifestyle. Start small by incorporating one of the tips above for a week and then add another. But here’s the reality – there are so many tips for finding a healthy life balance that I feel I have barely scratched the surface.

My mission through FitLiving is to educate and inspire others to become the best version of themselves by helping them navigate the busyness of life well. So I have created 10 guideposts for FitLiving that I have found to be the foundation of living this mission out. You can get a free printable of these guidelines by signing up for my weekly newsletter, here!

How do you achieve a healthy life balance?

Carly Ferguson is the blogger behind FitLiving and a healthy living advocate whose mission is to educate others on what it means to pursue “FitLiving” – healthy living through nutrition, fitness, emotional wellness and sustainable behavior patterns. Learn more on her blog!

Connect with Carly on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // Pinterest // Blog

7 comments

  1. A lot of people, including me, are having a more difficult time finding balance in their lives because there have been so crazy trying to do "everything" and "right now". What a great post!!

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  2. I love these tips. They are simple and to the point which I like. I find that I have the hardest time fitting in exercise. It's something I need to master still.

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  3. I'm still working on finding that balance, thank you for these wonderful tips! :)

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  4. I definitely needed this post today! Thank you, I will be following your 5 steps!

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  5. These tips are great. I especially love the one about boundaries with technology. It can get out of control quick if you let it.

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I love hearing from all of you and greatly appreciate all your feedback and comments! xx Kristen