Women Over Fifty—Your Balancing Act in ‘09
In my last post I mentioned I wanted to explore the topic of achieving balance in several areas of our lives. The first days of January are the perfect time to broach this subject as many of us feel out of sorts after the excesses of the holidays. We may have eaten too much, we’ve undoubtedly felt the stress of living up to Norman Rockwell expectations for the “spirit of the season,” and we’ve probably ignored important health habits like regular exercise and getting sufficient rest in favor of various holiday obligations. Nevertheless, as we retire our 2008 calendars in favor of the 2009 version, we literally get a fresh start and a whole new set of blank pages to work with. So, let’s make the most of them and reevaluate our direction and our goals for the New Year.
This is a great time to tend to some of the areas of your life that you may have been neglecting and there’s a straightforward little exercise that can help you do just that. Draw a pie chart and put a circle in the middle. The circle represents YOU. The various pieces of the pie that radiate out from YOU should include things like: family, health and wellbeing, social relationships, learning and intellectual stimulation, spiritual practices, community involvement, leisure and fun, and satisfying work. Give each piece a ranking from one to five; five representing excellence and fulfillment, and one meaning you have work to do in this area.
This simple pie chart can be a powerful tool to start you thinking and draw your focus to aspects of your life that require care and attention. As we grow older, we become more introspective and have a natural tendency to want to actualize our total being in the fullness of all our facets and complexities. Awareness is the crucial first step to making necessary changes.
The next steps call for action and one of my favorite blogs just added a post on this very topic. Create Your Future quotes an article by Jack Canfield entitled, “Decide What You Want for Yourself in 2009.” In his piece, Canfield addresses the subject of balance and provides suggestions for creating goals in various areas of your life. I heartily suggest that you give yourself the gift of reading this inspiring and informative article.
If you’re a woman over fifty, you’ve undoubtedly sacrificed parts of yourself over the years in service to meeting the needs of family and friends. In fact, many of us have a history of putting ourselves and our desires last on our own to-do lists. So it’s high time to bring a whole new balancing act into your life. Let 2009 become your richest and most satisfying year. As a fully formed woman with the gifts of age and perspective, it’s your time to shine and do so in each and every aspect of your being.
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January 8th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Balance – easy to forget when looking at a new year and all the potential it offers. I like the pie graph idea; besides being a simple visual way to see and balance all the important things, the pie as in cooking needs a balance of its ingredients to be its best. Get the balance wrong or miss an ingredient, and you either have a disaster, or something that just question: “Something is missing?”
January 7th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Love the reminder about balance Eileen, especially when we are creating our goals, to dos etc for a new year. It’s easy to crowd ourselves out of the picture. Our goals are meant to enhance aspects of our lives or to give us things we say we want to have. If the path to getting those goals accomplished is filled with doing and–the thing all success gurus encourage us towards–action, we might get out of balance. Too much doing, not enough being and self care. So thanks for helping me remember this important point.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:45 am
Yes Eileen, well said, and so true! Like Karlyn I think your ideas apply to anyone who will sit up and pay attention.This is one more area in my own life that needs addressing so thanks for the gentle reminder via Jack
Oh btw, Dorothy went ‘down under’ afterall! See how I listen to you?? lol
Love you
January 5th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Ah balance! As a coach I work to teach balance to my clients all the time. When we’re truly in balance, we seem to have ‘enough’ of everything, especially time.
And, like many coaches, it’s so much easier for me to work with clients to find balance than it is for myself. And I regularly use a balance wheel with them–similar to the categories you mentioned, and this blog is the nudge I needed to use it for myself! Thanks Mary Eileen.
January 4th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Great post….as to the last paragraph, yes, we do tend to be givers…and though we do have to take care of ourselves on a practical level…I hope the giving part will never stop:-)
Happy New Year!
January 4th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Eileen, Balance is so important in all of our lives. You drew the perfect picture for us to see how we need to find what is most important in our lives and prioritize. I am a big list maker and I sometimes feel like they are taking over my life. You’ve put balance into perspective, thanks.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Habits are hard to stop. Mile long to do lists that are more like wish lists, if I had unlimited time, what would I do? Better to make a much shorter list of the things we want to do most that are most likely to get us where we want to be. Balancing Act it is, but hey, we’ve had lots of practice.
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Eileen, No matter what age, I think this sounds like a great way to start out the new year, planning, setting goals and making it happen. It’s so nice to get that fresh start.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:37 pm
I love this post, Eileen! I’m knocking on the door of 50 at 46. Your post truly highlights the stuff that makes us awesomely power. I appreciate the pie chart exercise as I revisit the various areas of my life and business. THANKS so much for reminding me that I, too, am a “fully formed woman with the gifts of age and perspective.” I’m ready to shine! WOOHOO!
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Even though I preach “balance” all the time, I need this reminder for myself. I am frantic trying to get ready for our biggest bridal expo of the year, and am hours behind..yet here I sit. LOL You are an inspiration and one of my favorite people!
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:09 pm
What a delightful, inspiring post to read at the beginning of the New Year. I am a big Jack Canfield fan so I know his article is great.
You’re right about all of the sacrifices having been made–but you know what? I’m glad to have been blessed with a family to sacrifice for–a daughter who challenges me and a grandson to spoil and a husband to love beyond measure. Those are the good sacrifices of life–even through the many challenges dealing with them also bring.
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
My birthday is so close to the first that I do my review of the year then – this way I’m not dealing with all the crowds, lol. So, like you said on The Martini Diva about leaving it for a day or two later, I leave it for two weeks later!