Contrary to all beliefs, being content with your life and feeling balanced is not a question of tens and tens of things that have to happen at the same time. It’s mostly a question of some vital elements coming together and some auxiliary life choices that make a person happier with his or her own self. I’ve put together a list of what I consider as primary and secondary pillars to feeling happy and balanced. As you may imagine, these are very subjective, based on my own life experience so far.

Primary pillars to living a happy and balanced life

Spending time with family and close friends

I feel this is the most vital aspect of life. And it’s one that makes a person extremely happy and fulfilled. I’ve learnt to appreciate it more and more every year. On top of that, it’s not once, but multiple times I’ve read about people, towards the end of their lives, regretting not having spent ‘enough’ time with their family and close friends. I am fully committed to avoiding this and being as proactive as needed and taking initiative to spend more quality time with loved ones.

A healthy relationship

Believe it or now, we’re all searching for a happy love life. People, no matter the age, crave for a healthy and loving relationship. And they don’t want to settle for less. You, most certainly have, friends who are almost on a life mission for finding someone they love and respect and who loves and respects them back. And it makes a lot of sense, as life is always more fun when you spend it together with someone. A happy relationship can bring about a lot of positivity to one’s life.

Being productive and having financial independence

This is equally important to the point above. Our careers provide us with many rewards, such as: financial independence, feelings of accomplishment, productiveness and self-worth. The possibility to afford the things we desire by having worked for them is crucial for feeling happy with ourselves. The act of setting goals for ourselves (e.g. renovating the kitchen, buying a car, sending parents on a cruise etc.) and working towards achieving them can be extremely rewarding.

Secondary pillars to living a happy and balanced life

Healthy diet

Eating healthy is extremely important. You may have heard by now the saying: “you are what you eat”. Having a moderate, healthy (and preferably organic) diet is mandatory for living a happy life. Presi and I have written numerous articles until now focusing on nutrition, so please consult the Health & Nutrition chapter of our blog about this too. I will not ponder too much on it now, as it would make up a long story, but I will happily return with more insights on it in a later article.

Doing regular exercises

This is a no-brainer. It should (hopefully) make a lot of sense to al our readers. Physical activity through sports and exercises we choose (whichever those are) contributes to a balanced life. Not to mention healthy and happy (I’m sure there’s no need for me to further stress the notion of endorphins, the happy hormones). Doing exercise is extremely beneficial and makes people happier with themselves, better balancing their weight, combats some health diseases and boosts energy. These are just some of the outcomes, but the list of benefits can go much longer.

Living in moderation

I find it extremely important that we don’t exaggerate with our life choices and that we try to balance everything and aim to live in moderation. I don’t feel it’s healthy to live a life of extremes, but to live a balanced one, doing a bit of everything, in a moderate way. Life is about experimenting too, trying new things, having fun along the way, but keeping it within some limits, or trying to average it all out.

Hobbies

Feeling content with your life has to do with exercising your hobbies too. They are extremely valuable in making you feel well rounded and happy. If you love dancing, painting, writing, or playing the piano, don’t let anyone stop you. Take classes, follow courses, meet like-minded people and exercise your creativity. Life is not solely about the work we do to make a living, but about the work we do out of passion as well (in case our hobby is not the main way of generating income), which is highly rewarding and contributes to our living a happier life. Not to mention that hobbies can actually be the starting point to successful businesses and become the financial independence provider.

What are your opinions of the above? Would you add another ‘ingredient’ to this formula? What o you think contributes to a balanced and happy life? Until next time, I wish you all the happy life you wish for yourselves, in whichever formula works for you.

Love,

Manu

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