Balancing Life’s Fundamentals so You can Feel Whole
The entirety of your time spreads between three important fundamentals of life: ⅓ sleep, ⅓ work, and ⅓ relationships with friends & family and self.
Though on a page, each day looks neatly laid out, people often allow a dangerous shift of balance to occur and their lives suffer, in every respect as a consequence.
Happytalism, the state of being that embodies all characteristics conducive for a thriving, sustainable life, depends on the balance of these components. Though they all fluidly connect to one another, let’s break up the fundamentals and explore the significance of each.
The Sleeping Third
According to the National Sleep Foundation, healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 65 need seven to nine hours of sleep per night.
However, statistics show that 35% of females and 39% of males in the United States are falling short of that recommendation.
This is bad, as an APA sleep study reveals that sleep deficiencies build like debt; and over time, attention, memory, and other cognitive functions suffer. Furthermore, the immune system weakens, and the person actually may actually die sooner than expected.
This study concluded that enough sleep is imperative for happiness, health, and safety, as it affects physical and mental well-being, interrupts sound judgment, and negatively affects relationships.
If you’re still not entirely convinced, sleep on it and decide when you’re feeling refreshed.
The Working Third
Experts say that working is good for us, whether volunteer work or a paid job, as the productivity builds our self-efficacy, contributes to our happiness, builds a network of relationships, and the paid stuff helps us survive a consumer culture.
However, research shows that working over 50 hours a week makes a person less productive, yet over 50% of working Americans do.
These researchers found that many of these people were working free hours, giving up weekends, sleep, and time with their loved ones.
The solution?
Learn “The Gentle Art of Saying No” so you can balance out your life.
The Connected Self
This part of yourself is shared between two sectors: close relationships with friends & family, and relationship with yourself. Both are equally important.
Happiness experts point out that friends and family not only bring joy to our life, but they are the direct source of it.
Keeping the other two-thirds of your time in check will allow for you to enjoy your life with these people that you dearly love. But do not forget about yourself in that equation.
Loving yourself means doing both the things you enjoy and finding positive leadership for your self-development.
Practice mindfulness and meditation, as experts say that they improve emotional awareness and empathy, to key components in human connection. The practices also reduce stress, which is contagious to others. Also, immerse yourself in the natural world because, studies show that nature improves our mental state and overall well-being. Lastly, read books by the best self-development experts. And when you’re done, read more.
Loving others is important, but loving yourself first is pertinent to any healthy relationship.
As you can see, all 3 fundamentals equally hold a great amount of weight; they make you whole. You need a whole you to enter into Happytalism.
