Maintaining a Balanced Lifestyle During COVID19
Trying to maintain a balanced lifestyle is something that all of us struggle with on a daily basis.
Whether you are a student, scholar, ‘workaholic’ or are just way too passionate about cooking, maintaining a lifestyle that has a balance of productivity, good habits and relaxation time can be very difficult, especially during a world pandemic where everything is online.
However, I think I have come up with some of the best possible ways to maintain a balanced lifestyle in the tips below.
Be picky in what you want to do with your day.
I know for me, there is always so much in one day that I want, or need, to complete. But, with that being said, there is only so much a person can do in one day. As such, it is so important to choose specifically what you want to do with your day. Decide the outcomes you want to see for the end of the day and ask yourself, “What can I do today that will make me feel happy by the end of the day?”.
This is such a crucial question to ask yourself as it prepares you for the rest of the day. With that being said, if you are deciding to not have a productive day, that is okay, don’t try and cram everything into one 24 hour period.
Something I recently came across is something called, “theme days”.
Theme days are essentially days where you schedule things you want to accomplish in regard to specific themes. For example, if you wanted to apply for jobs, work on your professional development skills and do things that will benefit your professional self, you can call that your ‘career day’. Or, lets’ say you want to just relax all day because you just finished 5 midterms and you finally get a break, call this your “cheat day”. Scheduling themed days allows you to have days for productivity and days for relaxation, therefore you are not stressed out by relaxing on the days where you know you need to be productive. Even better, mix your themes. Do whatever works best for you.
Schedule your day, even those days that aren’t busy.
I have been implementing this practice since my 2nd year of university and I can honestly say, it has been the best thing for me. Sitting down in the morning for 10–15 minutes and scheduling what my day will look like is what allows me to be so productive, ultimately allowing me to complete tasks and activities that are important to me. Again, don’t try and cram all your studying or working into one day as this does not work and you will be burnt out by 3PM. Instead, give yourself an hour break to do nothing, give yourself 20–40 minutes to just drink your coffee and check your social media, give yourself time to recoup from strenuous activities that are inevitable throughout a regular day. I personally will plan out times, usually in blocks of 1–2 hours each, where I eat, study, relax and work on my professional development skills.
Incentive doing hard work.
We all do hard work. It’s something we can’t live without and is something that we need to do in order to grow as humans. But, with that being said, hard work doesn’t always have to be the bane of our existence. I recommend to incentivize hard work so that you will be more motivated to actually complete the tasks.
You can incentivize your hard work by allowing yourself breaks, particular meals or junk foods, etc., after you have completed such tasks. You’d be surprised at how motivated you will feel once you set these incentives, even if it is just taking a short 15 minute break after your 2 hour long study session.
Be kind to yourself
This is so critical. If you are not kind to yourself, your mental health might suffer. It is okay to not have productive days. It is okay to have days where you just watch Netflix or eat cookie dough — this is a part of life that we all go through. That is why you have themed days where you allow yourself to do specific activities, block out specific times to do such tasks and finally incentive these tasks in order to complete them on time.
Finito!
Overall, these are simple tips that anyone can implement in order to have a more balanced lifestyle. I challenge each and every one of you reading this to implement these tips into your everyday life. Let me know how it goes for you.
Did it work? What didn’t work? What did you change from my tips?
