Balance Life to Avoid Burn-Out!

There isn’t a college student out there who will not say that "life is hectic". With so many paper deadlines, tests, meetings, emails, time needed to hang out with friends and family it’s hard to find time to get it ALL done without burning out.

Not only as a college student, but as with any individual – in order to fulfill all of our multiple roles in life we need to function at our best to get the MOST out of life.

As a graduate student I now have learned a few things along the way. I've learned that I need to focus on things that will help me find and reach balance in my life. I wish I would have known these things in college because it would have made life easier...

Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about the whole person-approach, considering the 4 areas of life: Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit. Over the years I have learned to apply this approach to my own life and it helped me make amazing changes.

For the Body:

•  Eat well:Start your day right with a healthy, balanced and nutritious breakfast!

•  Focus on the quality of your food, not quantity of calories. For our body to function efficiently, it needs the right foods, like lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains and legumes. These power foods provide the protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber as well as other essential nutrients. Additionally, healthy (un-processed) foods provide you with so many health benefits to keep your machine (your body) operating at its best, every day.

• Be Active, Exercise: Get in the habit of moving all the time! Movement increases blood flow in the body and into the brain.  Exercise is such a powerful medicine in many, many ways. For example, you will: 
• 1) look better and stand taller – a toned and fit physique always boosts one self-esteem and is appealing to people’s eye; 
• 2) feel happier because exercise releases endorphins (feel good chemicals); 
• 3) be calmer, think clearer and be more confident;
• 4) build a stronger immune system and might get sicker less...and so much more!

• Manage stress: This bullet point just calls for another blog entry (soon to come...). When you eat right and exercise you will sleep better and you will function and perform at your best the following day. Getting quality sleep each night also helps one feel more relaxed and calmer so we can make sound decisions making life easier and s.  Aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. 

For the Mind:

• Plan ahead and prioritize: Keep and follow your planner (paper, electronic- whatever works for you). Don’t make any commitments unless you have your planner in front of you. Make sure you schedule everything around your highest priorities, like class time, studying for tests and writing assignments, scholarship deadlines, etc. 

•  As I go about planning my week, I keep this in mind: “Schedule the big rocks first and don’t sort the gravel,” meaning that I will do first things first and perhaps going to Happy Hour or chatting on Skype will not be done because they are the least of my priorities.

• Take notes: Carry a small notebook and pen with you so you at all times. In this notebook, write all kinds of notes, reminders, phone numbers, etc. and keep them in ONE place. You never want to be caught off guard scrambling to find ‘that one little piece of paper’. Write everything down, it will make things much easier. 

• Read a variety of great books: Reading good literature relaxes you, stimulates and opens your mind, gives great insights of life, helps building your vocabulary and even helps you become a better writer!

•  Build your writing muscle: Write and plan ahead in your journal or notebook (see above). Start start a blog to keep track of your progress and share success with others! The further you advance in your educational career you realize that you will need to write more and more, so start working that muscle today!

For the Heart:

• Nurture your relationships: Having a supportive and loving circle of family and friends in your life is crucial for survival. Sometimes we tend to remember our loved ones only when we need them the most, but that should not be the case. We must keep in mind that it is equally important that we are there for them as well as much as we can. 

• If you make a promise, keep it and do your best not to break it: Actions speak louder than words. You can tell someone you love them all the time, but they will never know unless you show love with actions. Prove your loved ones you love them and respect them by coming through on your words.


•  If you make a promise, do your best to keep it. If you can't commit, then don't make a promise to avoid sounding like a broken record by saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" all the time.

• Treat your relationships with care and build an ‘emotional account’: Always being there for the most important people in your life builds an 'emotional account'. When you may need a shoulder to cry on or when you slipped and broke a promise you will probably withdraw from that ‘emotional account’. Having build a strong relationship based love and trust will almost guarantee that people are there for you because your account is not on in red. The more careful  you are in your relationships the more secure you will feel and they will feel during stressful times.

• Be impeccable with you word: This is from one of my favorite books, "The Four Agreements". Make sure that the words you tell people are genuine, honest and directed with kindness, love, respect. Don't forget to be humble about it. Choose your words wisely.

  For the Spirit:

• Contribute something to someone else or another cause: 
• Volunteer at your favorite non-profit organization, your church, animal shelter or a community event. 
• Mentor a younger student or child; 
• Recycle, reduce and/or reuse ‘stuff’ – just being conscious of your environmental impact great contribution to the earth.  
• Learn to speak up when you see injustice or defend those who are not present (I am still working on this one in particular!)

The key to enhance the Spirit is to get away from self-centeredness and enjoy life while making a positive impact in the lives of others.

Burning out before getting all your things in your To- Do List done is scary. If you don’t take care of yourself first, who will? If you don't take care of yourself first, how will you take care of others or life life situations and responsibilities?

Prevent burn-out. Burning out may take a toll not only on your body and mind, but also take a toll in your life. In order for us to be at our best we need to find a way to find balance. So don’t neglect your body, mind, heart and spirit and start taking care of yourself first. You can do it. Good luck!

Love,

Bea