Balancing your life

Mental health means striking a balance in all aspects of your life: social, physical, spiritual, economic and mental. Reaching a balance is a learning process. At times, you may tip the balance too much in one direction and have to find your footing again. Your personal balance will be unique, and your challenge will be to stay mentally healthy by keeping that balance.

In order to maintain a healthy balance, we need to prioritize, first of all, our needs and separate them from our wants. On the other hand, it is important to feel pleased and fulfilled in all aspects, of our life. An example of a healthy balance would be to make time for friends and hobbies as well as spend the time required to meet deadlines at work.

To get a clear view of your priorities and maintain or restore balance in your life, you can use the “Wheel of Life” to identify which areas of your life need attention and which are properly fulfilled.

By Chara Markatzinou

The original concept of The Wheel of Life is attributed to the late Paul J. Meyer, who founded the Success Motivation® Institute in 1960. Paul J. Meyer was a thought leader and coaching industry pioneer. He built many programs to help people achieve their goals, manage time and be a better leader.

The Wheel of Life usually has 8 categories for life balance, although sometimes it has as many as 10. These categories can be changed and the wording customized as needed. Sometimes categories are split into two for more detailed scoring. Here is a list of categories and their common alternatives:

Emotional Life

1. Family and Friends: This category is usually split into "Family" and "Friends".

2. Love & Romance: This category name could also be named "Dating" or "Life Partner" or “Significant Other”.

Professional Life

3. Work & Career: This category includes your current working status and if split from career it could involve your ambition for a career.

4. Money & Finances: Other label name ideas include "Money" or "Financial Security".

Creativity

5. Health & Vitality: The category includes "Emotional" and "Physical" health.

6. Fun & Recreation: What you do to keep yourself happy

Social Life

7. Environmental: This category represents your relation with nature, our ecological consciousness, etc.

8. Community: Are you an active member of your community? Do you like to be involved?

Purpose in Life

9. Development: The category refers to your personal growth.

10. Spirituality: The category could be related but not confined to Religion, spiritual growth, etc.

How to use the “Wheel of Life”

Use colours. Rank the level of satisfaction with each area of your life by drawing a curved line across each segment. Scoring is between 1 (very dissatisfied) and 10 (fully satisfied).

c. The perimeter of the circle represents your "Wheel of Life".

d. Look at the completed wheel and ask yourself, "If this was my Wheel of Life, would it be a bumpy ride?"

Wheel of Life Questions to Help:

- How do you feel about your life as you look at your Wheel?

- Are there any surprises?

- How do you currently spend time in these areas?

- How would you like to spend time in these areas?

- What would make that a score of 10?

- What would a score of 10 look like?

- Which of these categories would you most like to improve?

- How could you make space for these changes in your life?

- What help and support might you need from others to make changes and be more satisfied with your life?

- What change do you want to make first?

- What is the smallest step you could take to get started?

- If there was one key action that would begin to bring everything into balance, what would it be?

The “Wheel of Life” is a dynamic, personal development tool and can be used at intervals, when we feel that we are out of balance or even when we wish to improve ourselves and set targets to achieve.