Trade-offs for a better life.
Crafting a life that makes the most meaning to you and creating significant change involves constant trade-offs, decisions and choosing one over the other. You get a better understanding of the trade-offs you are willing to make—or not—as your self-awareness grows. Getting there can be hard since we are constantly being bombarded with messages of ‘having it all’. For women, there is the added burden of being a ‘superwoman’—that elusive creature who is able to juggle multiple roles effortlessly and excel in every one of them. The idea that we can have it all is a fallacy but it is the best path to burnout and an awful quality of life.
“As an economist, I am aware that life is full of trade-offs.” – Peter Blair Henry
What are some trade-offs that will help you focus on two key areas—time and health—for an enhanced life? Remember, once these are gone, you can never get them back. I’ve heard many people talk about happiness and they eventually come to the same conclusion: they were looking for ways to own their time but have been sidetracked by conflicting messages, confusing the pursuit of money with happiness instead of using it to free as much of their time as possible. They then continue blindly on the same track without considering the quality of their lives, leading to more misery and dissatisfaction.
So how do we free time, our most precious commodity? Try changing the way you spend your money. Instead of shopping to make yourself feel better, buy yourself a service that will free you from a chore—cleaning the house or doing the taxes—it will contribute to more harmony and peace in your life. Or invest it to generate a future income and get closer to the life you want.
Reducing the time you spend on social media will also free up countless hours to pursue your life in the real world and give you the much-needed time to think about your priorities.
The trade-offs are eliminating every element that does not serve you well and the willingness to step out of your comfort zone. The further you move away from your comfort zone, the more you discover about yourself. And the more you do this, the more things fall into place like the missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle.
“The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” – Lin Yutang
If you are constantly trying to ‘manage’ your time and failing, you are using it inefficiently. Do you like how you spend your time? Who owns or commands your time? Are you using your time to live your best life and become your best self? Study how you spend your day and eliminate activities or people who don’t add value to your life. Grab every moment and make the best of it because life happens only in the present. Otherwise, time flows ruthlessly on and you’ll reach the end of your life wondering why you never experienced more of what it had to offer.
Once you are more cognizant about how you spend your time and free some of it, what do you use it for? A fantastic way to use it is to focus on becoming healthier. Prioritize your mental wellness because it is key to your physical health too. Start by consciously removing elements that cause imbalance and disharmony in your life. What’s holding you back from living your best life? What would you gladly get rid of in order to move on to a better place? How do you learn to embrace yourself instead of constantly running yourself down? Learning to enjoy your own company and getting comfortable with yourself will help you confront any fears that you may have been using as excuses to stay in an uncomfortable space.
“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fear is a constant life companion to most, nagging and imagining the worst possible outcome in every life situation. The only way to deal with your fear is to face it, accept it, and face the situation head-on because most of your fears will never materialize. Never avoid facing your fears because that only makes them multiply. Make peace with your fears and life will become much lighter.
Once you feel more inner harmony, you will automatically take steps to to getting physically fitter too. You will enjoy making your body move better and be thankful for all that it helps you do. Soon, getting physically fit will become an integral part of your life and you will have fun on your journey to a healthier body. Your relationship with food will become better and emotional eating will subside. You will eat more mindfully.
You are what you eat so the better you eat, the more harmonious you will feel. This cycle helps you feel good inside and out. Eventually, you will only use your gadgets for necessary tasks and lay them aside instead of using them as constant crutches to help you limp through life. You get high on life, not social media. And the trade-offs? Junk food and an unhealthy way of being, both mentally and physically.
“The greatest wealth is health.” – Virgil
Every trade-off you make in your efforts to own your time and get healthier causes a ripple effect and impacts your life in wider circles until it completely transforms you for the better. What’s the biggest trade-off to get there? Letting go of your excuses and fears. It will not be an easy journey but it will be so worth it.
