A balanced life

In the frightening amount of time I spend on Facebook, I've noticed something. First of all, I have all types of friends; those who work, those who don't, those who are parents, those who aren't, left-wing, right-wing, those who are politically apathetic. I could go on and on.

What I've noticed, though, is what kind of statuses people post versus who they are. There are parents who post about their kids and parents who never even mention them. There are people who have definite political opinions and shout them from the rooftop and others who think they might alienate others if they profess what they believe. I think that you can tell something about how balanced a person's life is by the statuses they post. I, for example, do not put a lot of time and energy into my career. I like getting paid and I do a good job but I don't get any personal satisfaction out of it. You can tell on my statuses because I barely even mention that I have a job.

That got me to thinking about the pieces of a balanced life and how much weight should be given to each of them. I don't think there is a set answer for this but what I can say is if you dip too heavy into one area at the expense of another one, it's not good. Spending too much time on a career at the expense of your family or spending too much time having fun at the expense of taking care of yourself is not a good thing. That being said, here are the categories I've come up with for evaluating whether or not you live a balanced life.

Family - the time spent with your spouse, your kids, your parents, your pets, etc.

Friends - your support system who also help in the recreation area

Career - whatever job you have, whether you like it or not, and where you want to take it

Citizenship - your responsibilities to your community and the planet (includes volunteering, being green, social activism, etc.)

Recreation - Vacations & play fall in this catergory. It's important to allow yourself to do what you want to do sometimes!

Health & Fitness - taking care of yourself so that you are able to do everything you want to do (exercise and medical maintenance)

Spiritual Growth - I originally forgot to put this on the list which shows you the priority I give it. I DO believe it is important to a balanced life, though.

I think that I live a relatively balanced life. I suppose the career aspect would become more important, if I was the major bread winner (which I'm not). Health & Fitness is another area that I could do better at attending to. I could probably shift a little energy out of recreation to devote to that!

So how balanced is your life? Did I forget any categories? Let me know what you think!