Posted: October 10, 2023.
Everyone, youngsters, adults and seniors, needs to live a balanced lifestyle. This is difficult today with the temptations of technology and many diverse activities. So we need to plan and balance the time we spend on activities on the basis of fulfilling our needs and avoiding excessive strain and burnout. Burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, detachment, and feelings of emptiness. One's activities should give one meaning, purpose and satisfaction in life.
Work-life balance happens when one’s professional responsibilities exist in perfect harmony with one’s personal life. But not balancing them has serious consequences. An unbalanced life, like spending little time together with your spouse, can also lead to broken relationships. Smith: Balancing work and life 2021
Not realizing it, many persons live a chaotic lifestyle that is overloaded with activities that cause one to become exhausted and tired at the end of the day. Many personal lifestyles evolve without much thoughtful balancing of activities.
Unfortunately, we don’t have time for everything, so taking a minute to recognize and prioritize your activities and let one or two go will help to balance your life. By prioritizing your time, setting boundaries, communicating effectively, being flexible, making time for yourself, you can create a healthy balance that will benefit you and your family. Doing so can ensure that your work and family life are both fulfilling your goals in an enjoyable manner. For example, scheduling quality time together for your spouse and family and prioritizing it above other responsibilities is one way to give balance to your lifestyle. Scott: Maintaining work-life balance 2020
Our lives are full of things we need or want to accomplish. But not all of those things should get the same amount of attention or priority. All needs are not created equal, and we shouldn’t give them the same weight in our lives. After reviewing several online articles about balancing one's activities, this author came up with the following table prioritizing time for activities:
| Activity | Priority | Time hours/day | Time /week |
| work or job | 60% | 8 hours | 5 |
| house maintenance | 5% | 0 | 2 |
| shopping for food, necessities | 50% | 2 | |
| eating nutrient dense meals | 60% | 3 | 7 |
| exercise | 50% | 1 | 3 |
| self-care [showering, toiletry] | 50% | 1 | 7 |
| sleep recharging your batteries | 50% | 8 | 7 |
| free relaxed time [TV, read book] | 10% | 1 | 2 |
| parenting with children | 20% | 2 | 7 |
| spouse [doing together] | 40% | 1 | 7 |
| social activity | 20% | 0 | 1 |
| hobby | 5% | 1 | 2 |
| helping elderly parents | 5% | 0 | 2 |
The second column, time hours/day, estimates the time to be given each day to the activity. The third column, time/wk, estimates the time to be given each week.
This table is not a perfect time and activity balancing table, but it exemplifies how you should prioritize your time and activities and adjust your own lifestyle. It is about prioritizing things that are most importance in your life. The table identifies highest priorities, eating nutrient dense foods at 60%, then sleep and self care at 50%, and activity time with your spouse at 40%.
We are often too busy to take time out and review how we live. Today's lifestyle has many opportunities for overloading many activities and not prioritizing these as to their importance in your life.
We need to realize that even if the events of our lives are changing, our priorities can remain firmly in place.
If you are missing a priority time by not doing things together with your spouse then you need to reevaluate your priorities. If you feel like you have enough time for all of these things, you probably have a good work-life balance.
On the other hand, being trapped in an unbalanced life, such as being busy with raising children or spending too much time at another activity, often diminishes the glue that is needed in a spousal relationship, eventually leading to broken relationships. Do yourself a favor and prioritize time for your loved ones. But be honest and realistic in your appraisal of how you live.
Today's lifestyle has many opportunities for overloading too many activities. These need to be prioritized as to their importance.
References:
Scott Elizabeth, "How to Maintain Work-Life Balance Like a Pro," Very Well Mind, December 28, 2020. Scott: Maintaining work-life balance 2020
Smith Jacob, "How to Balance Work and Life: The Ultimate Guide, BookedIn, December 1, 2021. Smith: Balancing work and life 2021