Relationships are everything.
Family is everything.
Health is everything.
These are expressions we’re accustomed to using and hearing.
While said with the best of intentions, they often reinforce an unhealthy attitude towards life and balance.
If you consider only one aspect of life to be everything, then it should come as no surprise when you neglect all other life areas.
This does not mean that you will be completely negligent of the life areas that don’t appear in your “everything” equation, but it does mean that they will most likely not make a sufficient appearance on your radar. And the more convinced you are that your only priority deserves your complete attention, the less care you will be putting into the rest of your life.
The fact is: Only everything is everything.
You can’t expect that focusing on a single life area is sufficient for healthy living.
All life areas need your attention.
All life areas contribute to your well-being.
All life areas influence and reinforce each other.
If you want to improve your relationships, then you need to be living by healthy spiritual values, sound reason, emotional stability, respect for others, financial income, rejuvenating rest and physical well-being. The same goes with the desire for strong family bonds or physical health. They depend on all other life areas for holistic growth and healthy living.
Whenever you find yourself giving all your attention to a single life area, remind yourself of all life areas, and see what you need to do to make progress in them all.
Spiritual, Intellectual, Psychological, Social, Professional, Recreational and Physical.
They all deserve to be in your life equation.
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Karen Hill is a personal development blogger over at Dreamin’ the Life, who writes about subjects ranging from facing your fears to the wisdom of Will Smith.
On 21 November 2009, Karen announced to her readers (in very colorful language) that she’s an alcoholic.
While Karen did a great job of covering up her secret, and managed to offer great advice and personal insights with her readers, without them ever knowing she was wrestling with her own dark demons; people usually respond to such news with a default response: she’s only human.
Such responses tend to define human beings by what they lack, rather than what they possess.
There are many people who wish to see others fail so they can reassure themselves that it’s OK for them to fail. They hunt for weaknesses in other people so they can avoid working on their own.
It’s not our weaknesses that make us human, but our strengths.
When I read Karen’s confession, I didn’t think: Phew! I knew she has weaknesses!
I thought: Wow! How many personal development writers have the guts to speak honestly to their readers, and the courage to publicly confront their weaknesses?
I’m not sure if I have what it takes to do what Karen did.
What makes Karen human isn’t her alcoholism.
It’s her honesty. It’s her courage. It’s her dedication to personal growth.
Being human isn’t the default. We must strive to be human.
Being human is heroic, and it’s very rare to find people willing to do what it takes to be human.
Karen is human for the strengths she demonstrates. Her alcoholism is what she chips away to reveal what she’s made of.
If you’re interested in literature that portrays a heroic view of Man, you might like to read my take on Rudyard Kipling’s “If”
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