A Balanced Lifestyle is the Best Lifestyle of All

The mass media present to us a vast array of lifestyles, as there is a wide array to choose from. What is very difficult for an individual to discern in life is what lifestyle is the best. This article will take a look at a number of potential lifestyles that one can lead and will go on to show which one leads to the best life possible.

Before this article even delves into discussion about which lifestyle is best, it is important to note that there are many different definitions of what the best lifestyle is. It would be possible to ask ten different experts and end up with ten different opinions of what the best lifestyle might be. General answers would probably include a lifestyle filled with extreme material wealth, one where one is free to choose to do whatever it is he or she wants, a lifestyle based on power and the ability to make things the way one wants them, one based on living a moral life in order to praise one’s god, or a lifestyle based on unrestrained use of one’s addictions such as drugs or alcohol. These are just a few examples, and as noted before, each person will have his own definition as to which one seems best.

First, take a look at one of the lifestyles noted, the one based on addictions such as drugs and alcohol. To most people, a lifestyle base on one of these addictions seems absolutely ludicrous as they can note all the negatives about living in such an indulgent lifestyle. The negatives include but are not limited to: loss of relationships with family and friends, loss of employment, a sense of loneliness, low self-esteem, financial disasters, depression, severe psychiatric disorders, sever physiological disorders, jail, and possibly death. A type of lifestyle that results in some or all of these symptoms for the person choosing to lead such a lifestyle seems as though it is a pretty foolish way to live life to most people. It is the mass media – music, movies, and TV that glorify such a lifestyle and make it seem great, but to those who have a good head on their shoulders, the addiction-based lifestyle is no good at all.

Second, take a look at the lifestyle where material wealth is purported to be the best good. Some level of material wealth is, no doubt, a good and necessary thing to have in order to lead life. This type of material wealth is okay, however, a lifestyle where material wealth is placed first and all other things placed second is again a very unhealthy lifestyle. Why? Because material wealth does not bring lasting happiness. Yes, the person with billions of dollars can buy whatever it is that he or she wants. Buying a new car every week or so may not be such a big deal. The real big deal is that the newly-acquired material good is fun for a few weeks or months or so, but eventually the excitement wears down and this material good is no longer exciting anymore; it is just another object that one has. The other point is that one never hears the cliché that people use when they die, “I wish I would have spent more time working,” or, “I wish I would have made more money and bought more property than I did.” What most people say when they are about to pass away is something along the lines of, “I wish I would have spent more time with my family,” or, “I wish I would have told my kids I love them.” Material wealth is nice to have, and a certain amount is needed to maintain one’s lifestyle, but mass material wealth is not necessary for living life.

The final lifestyle that many dream about is one where the person has grand amounts of power that allow this person to do whatever he or she wills. Possessing a large amount of power is a huge responsibility, and most people who live simply to gain power end up hurting more people, including themselves, than people that they help. Politicians are a set of people that fit into this group. The problem with their, and other power-hungry person’s actions, is that they forget about the people that they are hurting or helping because of their decisions. People become numbers or business transactions, and they lose their qualities that make them human. Additional repercussions of this include that these power-hungry persons lose the respect of those around them. In current history, other people seek to take their seat via elections, a much more mundane way than the past, where people were simply killed because others wanted to have power. Is that really power if other people dislike what is occurring because of the results of the power-holder’s decisions? Sure, that person is completing his or her agenda, but as quickly as the power was gained, it also goes. So, the powerful lifestyle does not lead to everlasting happiness, much like the previous lifestyles.

The balanced lifestyle, by far, is the best lifestyle. The happiness that results from a balanced lifestyle is permanent. One can remain happy for the rest of his or her life insofar as his or her life remains in a balanced state. A balanced lifestyle means that a person pays adequate attention and spends time in the different major areas of life such that no area is neglected and so that no other area receives excessive amounts of time. A balanced lifestyle will look different for different people, but generally it includes adequate time with family and friends (too little or too much social contact causes a person stress), adequate time at work (too much time at work causes stress and premature death and too little leads to a lack of the necessities of life), adequate physical health (Major health effects cause severe stress and possibly death. Regular exercise detailed in the Anxiety Support Network’s Anxiety & Exercise reduces anxiety and increases one’s longevity, among many other benefits), time alone to think and process life, and community/civic involvement (too little time in this area leads to a self-centered philosophy and too much leads to a stressful family situation). This is not a comprehensive or exhaustive list of things that need to be balanced, but they are the major ones that one needs to keep in balance.

When one is leading a balanced lifestyle, he or she has all the friends, family, money, work, and adequate physical and mental health that he or she needs. He or she is happy and pleasant to be around, and every sensible person around him or her finds enjoyment in this person. There is no drawback to living a balanced lifestyle, but it can be very difficult to achieve and keep in balance. One excellent example of a famous person that leads a balanced lifestyle, and it is blatantly obvious by the way he talks and acts on his show The Dog Whisperer, is Caesar Millan. Everybody that meets Caesar absolutely loves him as a person, not to mention the progress he achieves with distraught dog owners and their relationships with their dogs. Caesar obviously has his ducks in a row in his personal life, and that is clearly evidenced by his interpersonal interactions. A depiction of a balanced lifestyle anywhere in the media is rare, but fortunately this is one that has made it through.

At this point, the reader is probably asking, “What does all this have to do with anxiety?’ Well, the previous three types of lifestyles will lead to large amounts of anxiety in any person because he or she will be afraid to lose his or her material wealth, the fun that occurred around his or her addiction, and the power that he or she spent so many years gaining. The bigger point, however, is that an anxiety condition signifies that one’s life is out of balance, probably in more ways that one.

The main point of the balanced lifestyle is to demonstrate what one’s goal in life should be. This article did not delve deeply into that topic, however, a future article will. The goal of this article was more to explain the basics about a balanced lifestyle, and how it compares to the types of lifestyles that most other people lead. The balanced lifestyle, especially in America, is by far the least common lifestyle. Severe anxiety is a bright flashing light that lets one know that his or her life is not in balance.

Does an unbalanced lifestyle have absolutely no stress or anxiety? Of course not. But the stress and anxiety can be successfully managed such that the person that is living this particular lifestyle can move his or her lifestyle into that balanced state with some personal effort. This lifestyle has no significant drawbacks, however one should note that leading this type of lifestyle may mean that he or she may not receive the perceived “great” rewards of power, money, or drugs and alcohol. But, compare the negative repercussions of leading a balanced lifestyle versus the negative repercussions of the other lifestyles, which can often include death. By far, a balanced lifestyle that allows one true and lasting happiness (anxiety sufferers read relaxation) is the best one because it comes with no strings attached. And best of all, there is no special product, short-term offer, or buy-one-get-one-free deal; it is completely free. The ability to lead a balanced lifestyle can happen anytime and anywhere, so long as a person keeps his or her mind open and ready for learning. Somebody try and top that offer!

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