As we’ve learned these past weeks through evaluating our goals, deepening our relationship with change, and applying mindfulness to everyday life, health equates to more than just our blood pressure or cholesterol or weight. It is about the presence or lack of vitality in all aspects of who we are. Whether we like to believe it or not, life isn’t about fragmenting ourselves so we get it done perfectly. It is about the connection to our wholeness — or lack thereof — that gives us a sense of wellbeing and purpose. 

In revisiting the Integrative Health and Wellness Assessment, we will spend the next few weeks delving deeper into the realms of Life Balance & Satisfaction. These two notions go hand in hand; the more skilled we become at balancing our energy, time, and attention, the more satisfying life becomes. The less we acknowledge and manage the many aspects of who we are — the obligations and demands and everything in between — the more elusive satisfaction is. It is when we are unable to attend to the fullness of who we are with patience, joy, and willingness that we become overwhelmed and out of sorts.

So, how do you get it all done? Or do you? How do you manage to find the energy and attention for both work and home? Friends and family? Commitments and "me time”? Exercise and enough sleep? Fun and rest? What do you sacrifice on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis in order to make sure it all works? What parts of yourself do you ignore or surrender in order to keep it together?

It is time to reclaim those parts of yourself you’ve given away — as small as they may seem. You are incomplete without them.

When we don’t attend to those inner needs and the ongoing calling for self-care, the outside may look like balance, but it couldn’t be further from it. Making a plan to balance time is a good place to start. As we learn to manage time more effectively, we gradually learn how to conserve energy and attention, knowing that each part of our lives will have a chance to be attended to.

Create a schedule for the next day or two that identifies time to exercise, take some deep breaths, have some fun, eat well, pray or meditate, express gratitude and love, spend time with family, get to work, and pick up the groceries too… make time for whatever your priorities may be! Commit to the schedule you’ve created and ensure that time is paid to each aspect of who you are as a person, parent, employee, spouse, sibling, child, and individual needing self-care.

Observe how your stresses and anxieties shift as you move from responsibility to responsibility. Give up the need to get it all done. Just be with the schedule you’ve created.

Remember that all of life is a juggling act – a balance – a walk on the tightrope. The better we plan, the better it goes.

Billy Rosa is a Registered Nurse, Integrative Nurse Coach