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By Cynthia Barnett
Now that you’ve retired, you have entered an entirely new
phase
of life, a life filled with new challenges, adventure and
hopefully one that brings you complete and total satisfaction.
However, if you’re like most people, change isn’t always easy
and is sometimes stressful. This stress is completely normal
but may be compounded if you don’t learn how to balance all
the
demands on your time. With this in mind, we’ve developed an
innovative questionnaire and article to teach you how to
determine how stress affects your life and how balancing it
will lead to a more healthy and balanced lifestyle. Sound
interesting? Well, sit back, grab a pencil and let’s access
how
stress is affecting your life.
Make sure that you answer these questions carefully and
honestly:
1. I keep spending too much time on unappealing activities and
less time doing things that I really want to do.
True
False
2.I often feel I don’t have enough time for myself or for my
priorities.
True
False
3.No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get enough done and
always feel stressed, tired, overcommitted, and/or exhausted.
True
False
4.Since retirement, I don’t feel that I’m accomplishing my
retirement goals.
True
False
5.I often feel guilty when I can’t do the things that make me
happy.
True
False
If all of your answers were “false” then you’re on the right
track. Congratulations, you’re leading a balanced life and
have
a very low stress level. If you answered “true” to 1 or more
questions then you can really benefit from these 5 steps which
will help you more effectively balance your life:
1.Find your purpose. First and foremost, you must take some
time for soul searching. During stillness, you must determine
what it is that you truly value and what are your priorities.
List them from 1-10. Be very specific about what is important
to you and how you plan to strengthen those priorities. For
instance, let’s say that your first priority is to live a more
purpose driven life. If so, what type of activities are you
doing to help make your dreams a reality? Are you reading
books
or listening to purpose driven tapes? Are you attending
seminars? The key here is to really hone in on what is most
important.
2.Develop a workable plan. Second, now that you know what
priorities are important to you, you must develop a workable
plan to donate time to each one. To accomplish this, you
should
write them down and clarify how you can achieve each one.
Decide
now what steps you will take to fulfill your priorities.
3.Become committed. Third, you must become committed to your
plan and realize that you can’t do everything. By being
committed to achieving your most important priorities first
and
getting them done, you’ll enhance your self esteem
tremendously
and feel powerful.
4.Take care of yourself. Fourth, you must always factor in
time
to take care of yourself. By being focused on your health and
developing a healthy lifestyle, you’ll make sure that you have
the stamina to effectively balance your priorities. Therefore,
take time to access your current health situation and if
necessary, make any needed changes or improvements.
5.Enjoy this time. Fifth, you must be willing to enjoy this
precious time. Be grateful that you are gaining control over
your retirement goals and take pleasure in being able to live
a
balanced life.
In conclusion, you can have a healthy and balanced life by
finding your purpose, developing a workable plan, becoming
committed, taking care of yourself and enjoying yourself.
About The Author: Dr. Cynthia Barnett is a ”refired” educator
who had reinvented her life moving from the school house to an
entrepreneurial venue.. She is the author of “Stop Singing the
Blues: 10 Powerful Strategies for Hitting the high Notes in
Your Life, and RE-FIRE, Don’t Retire: 7 Secrets of Highly
Successful Retirees She was featured by Time magazine for
their
article on women in mid-life who have reinvented themselves.
If
you are ready to “RE-FIRE” your life sign up for my free 7 day
audio mini course on the 7 biggest mistakes retires make and
how to avoid them for an extraordinary life at
www.refiredontretire.com
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