Guest Column: Finding balance: health, family, career and finances

Realizing the importance of finding balance in our lives has proven to be the most challenging obstacle for many people in today's fast paced world.

If we aren't at every school event for our children, meetings, fundraisers, banquets, games, etcetera, we feel we are dropping the ball. On top of that we are balancing our work schedules, meetings, and appointments for ourselves and our children. Not to mention, we still have to put food on the table, clothes on their backs and pay the bills.

Let's not forget our ceremonies that keep us busy, as well. We are running around like headless chickens trying to check off our to do list! Whew! It's exhausting just writing this all down.

It's no wonder that many of us put our health and our sanity on the back burner. We neglect ourselves until we find out that we have a serious health problem that can no longer be ignored. In most instances it is not too late to undo the damage we have inflicted on our bodies. Our bodies are resilient, self-healing organisms. They are brilliantly equipped with natural self-repair mechanisms that kill cancer cells we produce every day, fight infectious diseases, repair broken proteins, keep our coronary arteries open, and naturally fight the aging process.

Daniel Wood, well known speaker and writer on, Personal Development, Sales Technique and Motivation, says that four major areas of your life need balance and success. Health, family, career, and finances all flow together to create a successful path. Success in one area usually means that you are neglecting another area. Neglecting one area can destroy your success.

The power to overcome this lies in our hands. We need to slow down and take a look at our lives and see what areas we are neglecting, and actually do something to improve those areas. Stay mindful of all aspects and you will start improving in them all, and success in one will fuel success in all the other aspects of your life. Set goals for yourselves. Once you achieve those goals, success and self-confidence allows you to grow and develop your talents more. All this leads to a more positive outlook on life - it helps to build character and lift your spirits.

So take some time out, sit down and evaluate your life. What is most important to you? Where do you see yourself down the road in life? Will you be living a quality life when you retire? Enjoying yourselves, traveling, spending time with your grandchildren? Or will it be constant visits to the hospital or dialysis because you failed to take action now to change your life journey. The choice is yours to make.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside thoroughly used up, totally worn out and proclaiming, WOW!!......WHAT A RIDE!" - author unknown

Valerie Nuvayestewa,

Hopi Special Diabetes Program