To start things off, I want to preface that this post is honestly me calling myself out on certain scopes of my life, but I am glad if you were able to take something away from
As my first year of university comes to a close, I have been able to more consciously reflect on the healthy habits I want to continue fostering, and the habits I want to cut off. I feel as though the word ‘neglect’, meaning, the “[failure] to care for properly” via the Oxford Dictionary, summarizes best some things I have noticed in my life. Neglect is not so much something completely forgotten as it is something simply not well attained to. I believe that the opposite of neglect is practicing good stewardship. The word ‘steward’ encompasses the idea of managing or looking after something. In all the complexities of everyday life, being a good steward of our energy and time, relationships, and health is an art that takes practice and intentionality to balance.
1. Energy and Time
Before university, I never really felt the need to consider my energy levels and the times I functioned best. Today, I am well aware that I think and do things best during the times in which the sun is shining outside, and succumb to tiredness easily at night. To do the things that we want and need to do daily most efficiently, we need to be first aware of when we have the most and least energy. Then, we can make a habit of maneuvering our daily tasks around these energy levels. For instance, you may decide to select the hardest tasks for when you feel the most energized and save smaller admin tasks for low-energy moments as buffers. Being more aware of one’s energy levels can help improve the way in which we allocate our time on a daily basis. When considering time alongside energy, it becomes so much more than avoiding procrastination and instead about actively seeking ways to be fully present in the things that we do day-to-day. Being a good steward of our energy and, in turn, time can enable us to make room to fully enjoy other things that we value, whether it is undertaking a new hobby or spending more time with the people we care about.
2. Relationships
Speaking of people that we care about, navigating relationships of any kind (with our friends, families, partners etc.) can prove to be extra challenging in a university environment. I am NO relationship expert, but I have made some key takeaways. Firstly, being a good steward of your relationships results from first recognizing that they require intentional effort from both parties to sustain. Next, recognize that your relationships look different in every season of life and that this is natural. In this, we are in a better position to evaluate the areas of our relationships that we want to more intentionally pour our energy and time into.
3. Health
Being a good steward of your health encompasses both physical, mental, and emotional health. You may have not missed a single gym day since the beginning of the semester, but if you have been going to the gym out of an unhealthy mindset then are you really taking care of your health? As for your energy and relationships, one’s health is totally unique to oneself. No one is in a position to make judgements towards the choices made by another, nor do we see all the struggles that may afflict the life of another. What we can all begin to do, however, is to view physical, mental, and emotional health not as 3 distinct notions, but 3 important pieces to the puzzle of one’s health.
“The best day to do the right thing is today”
The point of this blog post is once again, mainly a message to myself and a personal call to be more conscious in certain areas of life.
TLDR; I once heard a quote along the lines of “the best day to do the right thing is today”. Cheesy, but I’d like to think that it’s true.