Achieve Balance by Determining Your Priorities

Balance can be delicate concept. In one moment everything can feel perfectly aligned, and in the next, it can all feel like it's spiraling out of control. But despite its delicacy, balance is SO essential to cultivating a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. Honestly, it's so vital that I decided to get out of my ~ writing comfort zone ~ and share with y'all exactly how I developed an unshakeable balance in my life.

Prior to this year, I always thought I was good at maintaining a personal balance. From school to blogging to friendships, I was able to fairly easily juggle it all, and stress was a feeling I rarely let creep into my day. I don't want it to sound like everything was sunshine and rainbows day in and day out for the past 20 years, but my commitments always felt manageable. That was up until this spring, when my blissful balance crumbled underneath the weight of coursework and everything else.

This spring showed me a whole other side to stress: a stress that left me wanting to shut my brain off entirely and not make a single decision for the rest of my life. Now, I could've buckled down and worked myself into the ground, but I didn't think that was any way to live — especially at 21. What I wanted more than anything was to regain the peaceful balance I once had, and in order to do so, something had to give.

But first, I had to get my priorities straight.

How was I supposed to let something give when everything seemed important, and I couldn't imagine any little thing slipping through the cracks? Determining your priorities forces you to take a hard look at what is truly most important in your life, and figuring out what is worthy of your time is, hands down, the best way to create peace of mind. Discerning what your priorities are isn't all that hard either. For me, all it took was working through these three things.

Determine your goals

First and foremost, it's important to recognize what you want to accomplish and WHY you want to create a better balance in your life. While I won't give you a laundry list of what this looked like for me, I'll give you a brief overview of some of the conclusions I came to. For starters, two of my overarching life goals are to thrive in a career I love and glorify God in every aspect of my life.

From there, it should be clear that you want to create a better balance in order to achieve those goals. For example, I felt like I needed more time each day to succeed in school, pray and give my friends and family the attention they deserve — all of which could come to fruition through a better balance and ultimately lead to reaching my goals.

Be aware of what God is putting on your heart 

Often, it's in quiet moments of prayer that God's desires become remarkably apparent. Every time I took the time to listen, the same two things were weighing on my heart. The first being, I needed to be more present and involved in my relationships with friends and family. And the second one? Well, the second thing is what ultimately led me to writing what you're reading right now. I was feeling an undeniable push to use my gifts for His glory.

When determining your priorities, it's appropriate to listen to both your head and your heart. Because let's be honest, sometimes our head can be too rational for its own good!

Ask yourself the tough questions

Reality checks rarely receive a warm welcome, but they're critical to not only seeing where your priorities are, but also realigning them when necessary. You can do this by asking yourself these two, sometimes contradictory, questions: What IS the most important thing in my life right now? vs. What SHOULD be the most important thing in my life? 

While there were similarities in my answers, it was the order of my responses that were inconsistent. My answer to the first question allowed me to evaluate my current state, and my answer to the second question showed me what needed to change. Later, it was by following the priorities in my second list that I was able to develop a firm and wholesome personal balance.

I think this verse sums up it perfectly, "... we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18 We will only encounter two eternal things in our entire life: God and the souls of other people. Therefore, at the top of my new priority list was not my little corner of the internet or watching The Bachelor on Monday nights but, rather, my relationship with Christ and those around me.

Do you ever get to the end of what you're writing and wonder if any of it even makes sense? That's about where I am right now. What I'm basically getting at is sorted and sound priorities allow you to develop a  game plan for creating a better balance, and a better balance leads to a happier, healthier and simpler life! 

I will get off my soap box now and leave y'all with these quotes that share my perspective on the importance of priorities!