Sometimes, it can feel like we are off-center and struggling to find the time to get everything done we need to do in a day with only so many hours. With our daily lives so consumed with juggling a myriad of priorities, we often forget about the most significant of them all— ourselves. Finding the happy medium between those things you must do, and those things you want to do, is the key to enhancing your life, your happiness and wellbeing,
Your solution can be found in the practice of one word: Balance.
Here at River Organics, we are passionate about improving the health and wellness of our customers and community at large. Today, we want to take a closer look at understanding how finding balance is integral to overall wellness, and how CBD could be an effective tool to help you achieve it in your life.
What is Balance and Why is it Important to Your Overall Wellness?
What is Balance?
Balance is the ability to manage the scope of life’s daily challenges, while also dedicating time and space to what matters most to you. It eliminates the feeling of being bogged down by the looming guilt of other obligations which need your attention when you are already fully engaged in one. When we practice balance, we create and understand individual boundaries that allow us to pursue each role we desire in life. Our mental, physical, and social patterns become easier to navigate and control, and thus, we can improve our overall outlook on life and wellbeing.
What Happens if We Are Not in Balance?
A lack of balance can overwhelm the mind and body, causing harmful and unnecessary stress. The ability to concentrate, make decisions, and problem solve can be hindered— and ultimately, our self-confidence and sense of self can pay the price. This then can negatively impact our behavior, and the personal and professional relationships we’ve worked so hard to build. Without the mental capacity to think clearly, we can even find ourselves avoiding certain situations in our life, or the people we love most. Understanding the importance of balance, and working to achieve it can create a stronger, wiser approach to the various walks of life.
Achieving Balance
What does balance look like?
Being in balance allows us to compartmentalize our life, creating the necessary boundaries to do all those things we both need and want. When we are in balance, we feel a sense of well-being and groundedness, as well as feel more fulfilled in the various aspects of our life. While everybody needs balance, it doesn’t look the same for all.
Balance is not one-size-fits-all. It comes in a plethora of shapes and sizes, and is customized to everyone. The practice of balance depends on the individual factors that satiate a person’s needs and desires. While some people need time to relax and escape reality, others may need to keep busy and stay on the go. When creating work boundaries, some may dedicate a specific time to leave the office to avoid staying late, while others may be more flexible and work longer days to mix in with shorter ones.
Finding balance allows you to focus on your unique needs in the ways that you require — while maintaining all your identities.
Set priorities and personal preferences
Remember the old saying, “failing to plan is planning to fail”? When achieving balance, it is pivotal to prioritize your tasks and activities, ensuring they line up with your most important values and goals. This means you must decide which tasks can be put on the backburner for the moment, and which must be done now.
It’s crucial when setting priorities to include the personal preferences that add to your happiness and well-being. For instance, when studying for an exam it makes sense to stretch out study plans over the course of a few days in order to fit in desired activities. Otherwise, the studying will be crammed into one day, with no time allotted for yourself. Naturally, unexpected duties may arise, or you may find it tough to fit all your priorities in the day— and that’s okay. It’s why proactively setting priorities and personal preferences is necessary to keep you on track.
Tips for Setting Priorities:
- Say no to others, if necessary.
Finding balance in your life means avoiding an overflow of your cup. It is important to both set and recognize your limits. If you feel uncomfortable or unwilling to perform a task, you have every right to decline. If you are invited to do something that you would otherwise not want to do, you can say no. Saying no will allow you to say yes to what matters most.
- Self-Care
A focus on self-care will help you foster the wellbeing you need to create a larger impact within all the roles you play in your life. Without caring for yourself, the ability to care for those around you deteriorates. Prioritizing self-care will help you manifest the best version of yourself— for you and for those around you.
a. Nutrition / Meal Planning
Focusing on healthy eating will provide your body and mind with the adequate nutrients to supplement the thinking, acting, and behaving you do all day long. Additionally, meal planning ahead of time will help eliminate being tasked with the time-consuming decision of what and when to eat day to day, thus cultivating an easier flow in your life.
b. Stay active / Yoga and Exercise
Whether it’s hitting the gym for a workout, taking that next aerobics class, following a Yoga routine on a YouTube channel, or taking a walk around the block— staying active is key. Taking the time to focus on your fitness creates the space to balance between your personal wellness and the next to-do.
c. Mindfulness
When we are fully present in the moment, and able to focus our energies on what is most important at the time, we are in the direction of finding balance. This mindful outlook will allow you to dedicate your focus on whichever priority or personal preference you’ve set for the time.
How do you know if you’ve found balance?
To know if you’ve truly found balance, you want to assess two things: whether you can fully engross yourself in a task without feeling the “other task guilt,” and whether you’ve also carved out time to nurture your personal needs and desires.
Let’s now delve into the four primary pillars of wellness and learn how using CBD can be vital to achieving each one.
a. Physical
Our body is our home, and its health must be ensured for both present and future wellbeing. CBD can be incredibly helpful with bringing you closer to realizing balance. As CBD interacts with our body’s own endocannabinoid system, it encourages a state of homeostasis, and amplifies our defenses to support wellness. As such, the use of CBD is indicated to alleviate a host of health issues, including reducing inflammation and pain, improving sleep quality and muscle recovery while helping to enhance overall health and wellness.
b. Spiritual
Discovering meaning within our lives and participating in activities that align with our values and beliefs, are important components in achieving overall wellness. Incorporating CBD into your routine can help promote a state of balance, or equilibrium, in the mind and body — allowing your spirit the freedom to follow its desired path.
c. Emotional
When we can fully understand and manage the spectrum of our emotions, as well as appreciate the feelings of the people around us, we are experiencing a sense of emotional stability. Research has shown (and our customers like to attest to this as well!) that CBD has the potential to help with anxiety and mood disorders, encouraging a state of relaxation while alleviating stress, tension and anxiety.
d. Social
With mind, body, and spirit in balance, our social well-being can more easily maintain healthy and happy relationships within our lives. Much of our ability to interact with others depends upon our own confidence and effectively managing any anxious tendencies. As CBD can help support better emotional health by reducing anxiety, social anxieties will be lessened as well. A 2012 research study showed that CBD has potential to alleviate social anxieties along with general anxiety.
Balance Challenge
Can you bring more balance to your life this month?
What strategies and activities can you implement over the next four weeks to bring in the balance that your life needs? Maybe you want to practice balance in your work life, and you commit to powering down all devices once the clock strikes end of day. Or, maybe your priority is spending more time with family, so you dedicate one day per week to family game night. Whatever it may be, remember to set your priorities— never forgetting your personal preferences– and to make time for what matters most.
While engaging in your challenge, keep in mind how the use of CBD products, in combination with healthy habits and smart strategies, can amplify wellness in all areas of your life and help you achieve a state of balance. Incorporating our USDA certified organic, full spectrum CBD tinctures, topicals, massage oils and more can give you the potential to achieve the mental clarity you need to take on daily challenges, while reducing any stress or anxiety that comes along the way.
At River Organics, we are passionate about elevating the health and wellness of our customers, community, and the planet as a whole. It is our mission to produce all our CBD products organically, sustainably, responsibly, and ethically at our family-owned farm in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. All of our CBD products contain under the legally required 0.3% of THC to ensure that you can enjoy their therapeutic benefits without any intoxicating effects.
