A Balanced Life...or Just Spinning More Plates?

Are you a multi-tasking, hard driving, overachiever? Do you internalize problems, continually mulling over different scenarios in your head? Are you always available and an instant communicator? Is your life balanced or are you just adding more to your plate? And keeping all those platters in the air can be exhausting.

 At a recent presentation for the NAPW-National Association of Professional Women North Atlanta Chapter, I listed the following tips to reduce stress.

Prioritize-Determine what is most and least important

Ask for Help-You're not Superwoman

Put Yourself First-If you won't, nobody will

Don't Worry-Be happy     

Your Thoughts Create-So create magic!

Allow Things to Flow-You can't control it all

Prioritize: It can be overwhelming when you’re keeping so many projects and activities afloat. Develop a list ranking the most important items in your life to the least significant. This not only helps you get organized, it will assist you in determining whether or not an activity is even worth keeping.

Ask for Help: Independent, do-it-all people hate to ask for help. There are co-workers, friends and family who are ready and willing to take some of the burden, if you would just let them. Most of the time we don’t ask others because we want to keep control. It’s time to relinquish the reins and let someone else do some of the work. There is also a host of unseen guides, angels and teachers waiting on the other side, but they cannot interfere unless they are asked. Merely meditating and calling for their guidance is enough to receive some of their divine assistance.

Put Yourself First: Emergency protocol on an airplane calls for an adult to administer the oxygen mask to themselves before the child. The same rules apply in life. If you don’t take care of yourself, nobody else will.

Don’t Worry Be Happy: Naïve, sophomoric, simplistic…perhaps. But it is also a good mantra to live by. All the worry and stress you spend on a problem, does nothing to solve it. It’s wasted energy. If you can trust that the issue will be decided in the best possible manner for everyone’s highest good and let it go, you’ll have less stress and answers will come easier.

Your Thoughts Create-So Create Magic! The Law of Attraction brings experiences to us that we talk and think about. The Secret is a perfect example of this. To de-stress, begin developing affirmations to put your ideas working in a positive way.

Allow Things to Flow: Anytime there is resistance, there is a stoppage or blockage. The term dis-ease is when energy such as thoughts or emotions get stuck in the body. Adapting a process such as meditation, walking in nature or some other relaxing activity will allow issues to roll off of you instead of internalizing them.

I speak from experience. As a former executive, stress was my motivator, it helped push me to the next pinnacle. But getting to the top with depleted energy, poor health and anxiety off the charts is not a winning combination. Adapting a balanced, tension-free lifestyle creates greater successes, is more fun and a lot easier to manage than keeping the plates from falling to the ground.

Becky Arrington guides individuals and businesses to discover their purpose and live authentically. Whether you’re a company looking for innovative ways to lead and engage employees or an individual trying to prioritize, reduce stress or decide what you want to be when you grow up, learning to accept and thrive in change is key.