How are you doing with your 2018 resolutions? Wait… don’t answer that yet.
First, ask yourself some questions about past resolutions. What have you aimed for in the past? Have you reached some goals, abandoned others, and recycled tons more?
Often, discovering worthwhile goals requires a step back to assess what matters. That’s when your goal or resolution becomes part of creating a healthy balance in your life.
What Role Do Growth and Self-Acceptance Play in Creating Healthy Balance?
Enhancing these two attributes is healthy balance in action. Growth involves change in so many ways. Self-acceptance teaches us to be happy where we are—before the growth happens. A healthy balance, in other words, is how we best experience the present moment while preparing for our future. It’s the opposite of black and white thinking. We accept the push and pull of everyday life and use it as a path towards growth.
6 Ways to Create Healthy Balance in the New Year
1. Learn patience
This gets harder by the day. When you can instant message and stream—at the same time—while walking on the treadmill, it’s become normal to demand results now. It’s great to set high expectations for ourselves, but self-acceptance requires patience. High tech can be nice, but we need to unplug at times. Tune into our hearts and learn to slow down
2. But create some urgency
Just because you’re patient doesn’t mean you’re passive. There must be a healthy balance between knowing when to slow the pace and when to ramp things up. In both instances, the idea is to make every moment count.
3. Practice mindfulness
Part of making every moment count is being present in each of those moments. It means calling on the patience we discussed above. When life seems to spiral-out-of-control, center yourself in the moment and truly experience it.
4. But cultivate a vision for the future
Mindfulness roots us in the present. It doesn’t deny the strong possibility of a future. Being in the moment is not the same as being in denial. The present is the perfect vantage point from which to look forward with vision.
5. Take care of yourself, always
Make yourself a priority. This begins with basic, daily steps on the path of self-love. We all need routine sleep patterns, healthy eating habits, regular exercise and activity, and some sort of stress management. Self-care is non-negotiable.
6. But always help others
We take care of ourselves, in part, so we can be better prepared to help others. A healthy balance is impossible without a commitment to giving. You want your worries and problems to take a temporary hiatus? Immerse yourself in regular acts of kindness and altruism. Get used to asking others what you can do for them. Then do it.
Getting Help with Healthy Balance in 2018
If you try to get in shape long enough without change, you hire a personal trainer. When business is tough, you consult a financial planner. Basically, if it is change you seek, help is something else you’ll seek. This is another example of healthy balance in action.
We are not isolated beings. We are social creatures and thus, what we do involves others. So, the self-acceptance part is to recognize that you can’t do it all alone. The growth part involves having the maturity and confidence to ask for help. Working with a counselor in weekly therapy sessions is how you can identify where you’re lacking balance. From there, you create new strategies and approaches so you’ll be ready to answer when someone asks: How are you doing with your 2018 resolutions?
