I love the idea of balance. My husband likes to joke how much my side of the family is all about “everything in moderation.” And when it comes to personal growth, it can very beneficial to step back and look at our life from a distance. We may want to ask ourselves if there are any areas of our life that are hurting our personal development. If we are doing fabulous in most of our life but our family life or finances are a train wreck it will soon began to wreak havoc in other areas. So here are 6 life areas to balance for real personal growth.
6 Life Areas to Balance for Real Personal Growth
Our lives can be split into lots of categories. I tried to pick key areas that most of us would recognize and feel like our life fell somewhere underneath these categories.
Look over these areas and examine for problems or pitfalls.
The idea is to make sure that our weakest point is not so weak that is causes our life to tip off balance. However, we are not aiming for perfection just balance!
For example, if you go into a job interview you are probably not going to be everything the employer is looking for because they are hoping one person can fill 2 or 3 people’s jobs. But you want to be strong in several areas, proficient in others and somewhat knowledgeable in your weaker areas.
Life feel overwhelming lately? Read my encouraging letter to you here
So let’s get started and began to explore our lives as we reflect on some of these questions.
Work Audit
Sometimes work is seen as something we “have to do”. But being able to work and make money or save money and contribute to our family is an honor. Used to when a family had fallen on hard times, people would often “help” by giving the family work to do so that the family didn’t feel like they were just taking. Everyone wanted to be able to partake in taking care of their family.
When we look at the area of work let’s also think about part-time jobs, volunteer opportunities, homeschooling, work in the home and hobbies.
Some basic questions to ask. Are you able to provide for your basic needs? Do you show up on time? Are you able to hold down a job and complete basic follow through tasks?
Key and label. Life concept
Delving a little deeper, do you feel like you have a job you enjoy and that utilizes your basic strength? Have you transitioned from jobs that felt dead in to a better job?
If you are a stay at home mom, do you value all that you are contributing? Have you created an outlet or two for yourself where you are growing your talents if even in small ways?
Spiritual Audit
You were made with a desire for something greater than yourself. So even if you don’t feel like you need “religion or faith” this question of why are we here and what is the real purpose to life may cause unknown stress.
Be willing to explore and ask questions.
For the purpose of this blog I try not to use Christainease talk because that can be confusing if you did not grow up going to church. But I very much believe that there is a God and that He made a plan for us through His son Jesus. The way to have a relationship with God is very simple and shouldn’t be confusing. Simply ask God to show Himself to you in a way you can understand. Or download a Bible app and start reading in Psalms or John.
Do you find comfort in prayer? Do you make time to be quiet and reflect or meditate on what is true and good? If you have faith in God have you found a church where you can grow and connect with others?
If you feel like past experiences have hurt you and turned you from the idea of faith and spirituality then re-look. Don’t allow one or two people from your past determine one of the most important decisions you will ever make.
Home Balance
Home should be a place where we can recharge and be ourselves. But home is also a wonderful place to bless others by inviting them in, forging and growing friendships. Home should be a place for our children to learn and grow, trying out their talents and developing life skills.
Basically there is a LOT going on in a healthy home!
Is your home peaceful to you? Do you feel like it is safe?
Do you have good routines to help you stay organized as you make meals, do laundry, pay bills, clean and take care of kids? Or do you feel overwhelmed as if you are always trying out the latest organizing system in hopes that this would be the miracle cure?
Are the household duties distributed. Notice I didn’t say distributed evenly because life has an ebb and flow where sometimes you do more, others less and vice versa. But is everyone getting the opportunity to share in the responsibility?
Is your home full of laughter? Read 3 reasons you need humor and laughter in your home!
Are you able to open your home in hospitality? Or do you feel unwilling to allow others to see inside your home because you don’t want to risk things getting our of place? Or perhaps you feel overwhelmed by the chaos or junk?
Family Life Balance
Family is so important. Other than God there isn’t anything more important than family. And the ramifications of how you treat your family and teach and train your children lasts for years and generations to come. So no pressure…:)!
With family life 2 big things come to mind. What are your main goals for your family? And what routines and habits do you have in place to meet and reinforce those goals.
We can get so busy checking off the daily to do list and putting out emotional fires that we lose long term focus. The better picture we have for how we want our family life to look like or the more specific our goals, the better job we will do parenting.
Some other important questions to ask: If we are married are we putting effort and time into strengthening that relationship? Is our family parent led or child centered? Do we make time for personal growth so we are better equipped to care for our family not just physically but emotionally? And does our home have a give and take atmosphere, where we take turns caring for one another and being the focus of attention?
Finances Audit
Money is often a subject of much discussion (read arguements). And when money is handled poorly it can lead to huge amounts of stress on a marriage.
Money is very personal and means more to people than just paper. Money may mean security, freedom, status or carry deep memories of poverty.
For real personal growth, we have to learn to wade through all those wounds and messages we have regarding money to create a system that works for us and our family.
If you are married one person is typically a spender and one a saver. So using each other’s strengths, do you have a system that works for your family? Are the bills paid? Do you have a budgeted amount available for each other’s wants and you stick to it? Is everyone is on board with only spending money we actually have?
Health & Wellness Life Balance
Our bodies are capable of doing so much. But when we neglect caring for ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually our bodies will began to reflect the inbalance in numerous ways.
Here are some questions you may want to consider when it comes to health and wellness. Do you get adequate amounts of sleep? Do you make time throughout the day or week to care for yourself by doing things you love? When it comes to what you eat and exercise do you have a few healthy habits in place? Are you so overweight or underweight that it causes you to be unable to do things you use to enjoy?
Are you struggling with any addictive type behaviors that are slowly destroying your body? Are you plagued with a litany of ongoing symptoms like headaches, racing thoughts, upset stomach and constant colds.
If you struggle with a mental illness or a chronic condition are you seeking treatment and support that help you to balance your good and not so good days?
And finally, do you make time to learn new skills or become better at doing things you love?
Sharing is Caring! Pin!
6 Life Areas to Balance for Real Personal Growth
That was a lot of information at which to look! Our life encompasses so many areas. As you read through these areas and the questions that were raised did anything stand out to you? Were you able to see areas of strength and areas of weakness?
We all have areas in life that are easier for us whether it is due to training you had growing up or natural talent. However, the good news is that we can all learn and grow in our weak areas no matter our past mistakes or age.
And again we are not aiming for perfection. We are desiring to keep growing in all areas and to be aware of areas in our life that are so weak they are holding us back!
What is one category above that comes easily to you? Why? Do you have a subject that is a real struggle? Comment and tell me below!
Feel like your life is off balance? Enjoy a week of discovery and growth…for FREE! Just click the picture below and I will personally walk you through some key elements of an emotionally healthy life.
“Hey, Mom,” my son said walking into the kitchen, “You’ll never believe what Grandma said.” Launching into a conversation he recently had with his Grandma, I listened on pleased but inwardly sighing. My son relayed how he had come to some profound conclusion, with his grandparent’s help, of course. And now he knew what he needed to do. Hmmm…I think I just had this same conversation with him…oh, I, don’t know…500 times before. Funny though, until one of his grandparents said it, it didn’t make any sense to him. Grandparents have super powers like that. Teens greatly benefit from relationships with their grandparents and that bond truly matters. Here are 5 reasons to foster teen and grandparent relationships. 
Calving season 2018 at Hickory Hollow began this week. We already have 4 new calves on the ground (delivered)! So we wanted to update and show you all some of the cute new faces around Hickory Hollow. 
I am very excited and pleased to tell you all that The Reluctant Cowgirl was nominated for The Mystery Blogger Award by I Dream of Simple! So I will be on the hot seat this week answering questions as well as sharing with you a bit about the award. PLUS as part of accepting the award I get to nominate 10 other bloggers. So I can’t wait to share with you 
Growing up my older brother was always the funny one. But really he isn’t. I am. OK, so maybe he is actually pretty funny, but I still feel that I was not fully appreciated. Perhaps its due to the fact that I can tend to be serious at times. But I have discovered that finding the fun in everyday life is pivotal . Humor is a vital element in creating an emotionally vibrant home. So here are 3 ways humor and laughter bring joy into the home! 
If you want to look poised and graceful at all times don’t try anything new, right? This year has had its share of funny moments. OK some didn’t seem so hilarious at the time. Like why in the world is the update/save button on WordPress so near the PUBLISH button! Eeekk. That was awkward accidentally sending out half a post to my readers. But we have to laugh at ourselves sometimes. So I’m sharing bloopers and mishaps in the first year of blogging for your enjoyment:) 
The Reluctant Cowgirl is celebrating our one year anniversary! I have been live and writing for a year on this thing called “a blog”. So I wanted to share some lessons learned as I know they apply to all of us dreamers. And I wish to celebrate with my readers one year down in my blogging career. Here are 5 lessons on realizing dreams learned from blogging for a year. 
When we begin to cultivate an emotionally vibrant life amazing things begin to happen. One of the wonderful consequences to creating an emotionally healthy life is that we has some great friendships. We have relationships where we laugh and share together and ones where we encourage and offer some advice. One great way to build upon those friendships is to send a hand-written letter of encouragement. There is something special, especially in this digital age, about receiving a personal letter that is meant to lift a friend’s spirits or share in their happiness. Here are some elements on how to write an encouraging letter to a friend. 
When I was growing up I loved to read everything about the American Frontier. I loved to imagine what life was like being a frontier settler living off the land and providing for most of your own basic needs. Actually, I haven’t really outgrown my fascination with that time period! Most opportunities I get to experience a little bit of what that life was like I think it is the best fun! So today I want to share with you the process of home milling wheat flour from field to table. We just finished harvesting our wheat crop and milling some of it into wheat flour for our family so I have plenty of pictures to share of this exciting process! 
