Balancing it all…How to balance work, home, family, friends, Phi Mu, etc.

It is important to develop the habit of taking care of yourself.  College years provided an opportunity for you to create and flex your own schedule; once you have a full time job, that flexibility does not come so easily.  It is important to take the time to sleep in on a weekend, but naps are now out of the question during the week.  Now is the time to develop good sleeping habits because you will perform at your best when you are fully rested.  You want to find a balance in all the areas of your life.  To move toward balance, you must decide what you value or what your purpose in life is, develop a plan to meet this purpose, and create a system that will allow you to be most effective and allow for adjustments. 
 
Potential schedule for a recent grad:

6:00 a.m. - Now that you have finished college, you believe that you have a handle on “real life.”  You have been in your new job for a week and believe that you have mastered your responsibilities.  As you are getting ready for work, you start planning activities for later that evening.  It is time to celebrate your independence!
 
8:00 a.m. - You arrive at work and briskly throw yourself into your task.  You think “This is great, no homework! Why did I have to write all those papers in school anyway?”
 
12:00 p.m. - Lunch time!! You only have an hour and you need the break.
 
12:15 p.m. - You find your car and finally head toward McDonalds.  You need something fast because you have a meeting after lunch.
 
12:45 p.m. - Now you feel a little ill.  You never had to eat that fast in college.  In fact, in college, if you needed to be late you would just slip in the back of class.  Now, you cannot be late!
 
1:00 p.m. - Made it for the staff meeting.  Your mind begins to wander and you feel a little tired.  This was nap time in college.
 
5:30 p.m. - You worked a little late completing the project given to you in the staff meeting.  Now you are headed home.  You plan to meet some of your new co-workers, who happen to be Phi Mus, for dinner.
 
6:30 p.m. - Traffic was not bad.  You made it home in record time. You click on the TV and sit on the couch.  You say to yourself, “I’ll just rest my feet for a minute.”
 
8:00 p.m. - You awaken to the ring of the phone.  It is your Phi Mu sisters calling and wondering where you are. You decide to take a rain check on dinner.  You flip through the channels on TV looking for anything interesting.
 
10:00 p.m. - You decide you should go to bed.  As you are lying in the bed waiting to fall asleep, you begin replaying your college days.  It seemed you had more energy and accomplished much more during the day.  You begin to wonder how you will have a social life, or find time to exercise.