By Hey everybody! I’m excited because in this blog post I’m going to elaborate on my last blog post and go into more detail about what my specific focuses for the year are.
To get you up to speed (if you haven’t read it, I encourage you to go do so!), I talked in my last blog post about the importance of evaluating where you are in reaching your goals. A lot of the time, we make goals or set focuses, but time gets the best of us and we forget about it. This is why it is important to evaluate! It brings us back to those goals, focuses us, and helps keep us on track to reach those particular things rather than allowing life to pass us by without accomplishing them.
With that being said, I want to let you in on what my focuses for the year are. Now, these items I’m going to list are not just temporary things to get me from where I am to where I want to be and then forget about it. These are aspects I want to take with me and cultivate as part of my lifestyle. In essence, it’s a lifestyle change.
These focuses all can fit under one and the same category, or the same focus: being intentional in cultivating a balanced lifestyle.
Being intentional is so important to me, which is why I decided to start this blog in the first place. And maybe that’s why you are here too — there is a part of you that desires to be intentional in your every day. That’s tired of letting life pass you by. Instead, you can do your part to be not only present in the moment, but make that moment count. We are only here for so long, and I don’t know about you, but I want to say that in everything I did in my life I did wholeheartedly and with intention.
And thus, being intentional to me means being intentional in every aspect. One of those facets, which I believe to be foundational, is focusing on a balanced lifestyle.
Balanced living means considering all aspects of your life: spiritual, physical, financial, relational, and intellectual. The goal is to excel in these aspects, and in them you will find a healthier version of yourself.
Like I mentioned above, a balanced lifestyle is foundational to your everyday health. For the past few months I have really felt God urging me to start prioritizing my health, learning what I can do to be a good steward of what He gave me. God has given us these bodies and these lives, and we should treat it with the love and respect it deserves.
As a whole, people aren’t used to trying to bring that balance to their lives. Sure they may try one or two aspects, but I believe to fully be a good steward of our bodies and lives, we should strive to be well balanced in every aspect.
Let me just say, the development of a healthier lifestyle is not an easy one, especially when you are looking at all the different aspects of one’s life. It may take some time and some trial and error to find what works and what doesn’t, so my suggestion is to take it slow. It’s not all going to happen in one day, and that’s okay. Give yourself that time to figure it out.
Some may look at it from a financial standpoint and think they will never be able to afford that, however healthy living doesn’t have to be super expensive either. We can even reallocate funds; sure it may be difficult at first, but definitely worth it in the long run. Afterall, this is your body and life. It’s for sure a good investment.
You may know the saying, “Before you help others, always put your oxygen mask on first.” I bring it up to say, as Christians our Great Commission is to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19) however that is difficult if we ourselves aren’t in the right place to. Taking care of our bodies — mentally, physically, spiritually, and intellectually — and our finances will help bring us to that place where we can help others.
The road to cultivating that healthy lifestyle might be quite the journey, but it’s definitely worth it. Like I said before, God gave us these bodies and this life, so we need to do our best to cultivate a healthy, balanced lifestyle and be good stewards of them.
And I don’t know about you, but being healthy also feels good too. 😉
Caleigh
An adventurer and coffee enthusiast at heart, Caleigh Ball has a passion for reaching out to others to inspire them to live with intention and purpose. As an ordained minister, she spends her time ministering as a youth pastor and is actively involved in Arise Ministries as the vice president and bookkeeper as well as one of the ministers. She enjoys life with her husband, Emmanuel, and their cat, Alaska, in their home state, Almost Heaven West Virginia.
Find Caleigh on Instagram at @caleigh.ball
by leaps and bounds 