People don't really tell you how hard the transition from college to the real world is. I'm a recent college grad pursuing a career in the film industry (aka I don't have a defined future). But there is so much more than graduating with a diploma, moving in to a new house or apartment, and starting a job. Life shifted in unexpected ways for me, when I graduated and I found that areas of my life that were so easily filled, were all of a sudden lacking and my life was thrown out of balance. When I look at my life, I see five areas that, when put together, compromise my days, weeks, months, and years. Friends. Family. Career. Hobbies. And my physical well-being.
Friends come and go in life, and that's okay, because it's just a part of life. But when they go, it's hard if you don't have other social connections to balance that loss out. When friends are unbalanced, we can potentially fall in to a lonely lifestyle. We are designed to make connections with other people and it really sucks then those connections aren't being made.
Family is what shapes our early selves and shouldn't be neglected. Family brings out that sense of loyalty and teaches you to love no matter what. Without being connected to your family, you can lose the essence of who you are. Of course, family can also have the opposite effect if your family is a negative influence, which I can speak more on in a later post (if there's interest) but I am lucky enough to have an amazing family that I wouldn't
trade the world for.
Careers or jobs are so important not only for the intellect of the work but the social aspect and being out and connected to the world. It also helps to motivate people to do things and work towards goals and tasks. For me, it's difficult because I have a completely sporadic and unsteady career path. But this leads me in to my next point.
Hobbies function to keep you active and social. It also forms who you are as a person. Just coming out of college has been difficult for me because my time is more restricted as well as my finances. But it is so important to figure out who you are outside of college in the real world so that you can contribute and give your life more meaning and dimensionality (sorry to get all "character developmental" on you but it's true).
Our physical well-being is a huge part of our lives (for obvious reasons). We only have one body and we need to take care of it through correct eating and being active. This looks different for everyone, and it's important to note that.
All of these overlap and build in to each other. Having hobbies makes you a more interesting job candidate. Taking care of yourself physically can play in to hobbies. Family can also be friends and give you that social interaction we all crave. But it's hard to enact balance in our lives, so here are a few things I'm putting in to practice to help balance my life.
1) Figuring out what balanced looks like for you
A balanced life can look like so many different things based on who you are as a person so don't compare your life to that of others because that will throw off what balanced is for you. Once you figure out what a balanced life looks like for you, then you can knowledgeably move forward.
2) Identify what is lacking in your life
You can't know what to work on until you identify what is missing. Having just graduated college and living back at home, family is huge in my life right now but I'm lacking in the areas of friends and career, so I know those are two things I want to work on in order to achieve balance.
3) Research
Figure out how you want to go about fixing what is unbalanced in your life. Some areas might not take research (you can't really research social connections) but areas like career and hobbies are things to look in to. To balance the lack of career, I had to research jobs available. When it comes to friends, since I have no job I can't turn workplace peers in to friends, so I've started reaching out to old high school friends that are still in the area
4) Schedule your life
Figuring out a schedule and sticking to it makes such a big difference. It turns your research in to action. Once you get the ball rolling, it's easy to continue. When you schedule your life, you can see where your time is going and what needs more or less of your time. (I can write about what it looks likes to schedule out your life if there is any interest, just let me know).
5) Reassess your life
Life is a flowing, moving entity and therefore balance is too. It's important to continually be aware of where your life might be unbalanced so that you can live a healthy lifestyle. I'm not saying that having a week or two that's heavy in one area is bad. There will be periods where the balance shifts and sacrifices need to be made. But preparing for those will help you handle that unbalance so much better than if it's out of the blue. And some things that throw your life in to unbalance can't be controlled, and that's ok as well. Life isn't perfect. It's messy and unpredictable and just when things seem to be going right, something happens. But that's why we need to constantly be reassessing our lives so that we can live as much of a balanced life as possible.
6) Be patient
Balance isn't achieved over night. It may take time and that's okay. As long as you are actively pursuing a balanced life, you should be satisfied with yourself for working towards your goals of living a healthier lifestyle.
Having a balanced life isn't easy, but just know you are not alone in that struggle. Hopefully some of these tips can help you re-achieve a balanced life. If there are any other tips you like to use, let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading and I'll see you in my Wednesday post!