Review of Lifestyle Changes

Back in May 2019 I started keeping track of the various aspects of life I wanted to improve by adopting Bless' wheel of life approach, focusing initially on eight categories which evolved into the main goal and ten sub-goals listed below. Every aspect of life has inevitably been affected by the pandemic and the periods of lockdown but I have added my current ratings in red, based on how my life is as the UK attempts to slowly ease out of lockdown. I haven't reduced my ratings because of the pandemic and all the imposed restrictions on how we live, as I have still been living the only life I have to the best of my ability.  

I LIVE A FULFILLED LIFE [8.5]

• I am financially secure and am completely debt free [10]
• I take an active role in my local community, and have strong bonds with family and friends [9] - my community and ways of keeping in contact have changed but regular contact is happening.
• My garden is always tidy and presentable [9] - There's always work to do in a garden but I have employed a gardener and the next few weeks will see the plans come together. 
• I have a positive outlook on life and am benefiting by avoiding bouts of depression and keeping my emotional well being at a healthy level [9] - this will always require effort on my part and I'm addressing this.
• I live life now, in the moment [9] - I'm getting better at this but it's easy to let it slip
• My home is always clean and tidy [8] - I've definitely let things slip during lockdown but am gradually getting the house back in order. Plans for the future include employing a cleaner again!
• I have removed my attachment to material things [8] - I'm nearly at the end of the huge decluttering task but still have work to do to stop valuing myself in terms of possessions
• I eat sensibly and healthily and am benefiting by losing weight and experiencing increased energy levels [8] - I've made significant changes and things are slowly improving as a result.
• I make best use of my time to lead a full and productive life [8] - procrastination is still a feature of my life but despite that, I am achieving the majority of the goals and tasks I set myself.
• I lead an active life, benefiting from increased fitness and improvements in my general health [7] - hmm, this aspect of life needs attention!

So, there is still work to do in certain aspects of life to achieve the lifestyle I desire. I'm very aware that, despite good intentions and plenty of ideas, I have to keep addressing the same things over and over again without ever getting to a state where I have instilled the habits and routines that support and maintain the lifestyle I seek. 

Today, I listened in to Kath's Happiness Hub and one of the topics was the 'Four Bodies' - spiritual, physical, emotional and mental, so this relates to the person rather than the lifestyle (although you can't entirely separate one from the other!). These four bodies apply to everyone and need to be balanced with each other to achieve wellbeing. 

Image: SUM Society Uplifting Mothers page on Facebook

I won't give a detailed explanation of each one but you can read about it here if you are interested. Each 'body' has an equal importance so each one represents 25% of the whole to achieve the balance for true wellbeing. In the session we were given a brief description of each one:

• spiritual: not necessarily established religions or belief in a God, but also consider the effects of being in nature or how you feel from a meaningful experience.

• physical: addressing the needs of your body and how nutrition and movement contribute to your wellbeing

• mental: keeping your mind active, looking for activities that stimulate your mind and challenge your intellect and your point of view

• emotional: this is the social and emotional response to other people. It's about needing people, and connecting in a way that achieves a healthy balance between being alone and being with the right people, i.e. people that stimulate a positive emotion in you.

When Kath first introduced the subject my initial thought was that I have a good balance between the four but once we were asked to assess each one based on the questions she was asking us to consider, it very quickly became clear that my initial response was completely wrong and there is plenty of scope for improvements. We've been asked to look at a period of seven days that's representative of normal life and create a chart where all activities during our waking time over those seven days is accounted for on the chart. Once that's done we assign a colour to each 'body' and mark out the blocks of activity based on which 'body' the activity supports. Using colour means that we can see at a glance how balanced our lives actually are. I haven't done that exercise yet but will get round to it. 

I do know that there are things I need to address and I will work towards achieving a good balance. I'm already actively pursuing improvements in nutrition and attempting daily exercise (physical body) and have plenty of hobbies and interests that keep my mind active (mental body). Emotional and spiritual both need some attention and I will get round to that but don't want to make too many changes to my lifestyle all at once - there are some suggestions for how to improve the balance here. I am a work in progress!