Sustained busyness is taking a toll on the quality of our lives and our relationships.

Free time. Two words that most people, including children, are unfamiliar with and wish they had more of.

Our free time has been filled with work, errands, chores, extracurricular activities, social obligations, classes, projects...the list goes on. And to top it off, we are always connected. Thanks to technology, we are reachable at all hours, wherever we are, whatever we're doing. All of these things can lead to feeling overwhelmed, stressed and irritable.

Being 'on' all of the time, always rushing from one must-do task to another negatively affects our health and wellbeing along with our productivity, creativity and ability to focus. Our relationships can also suffer as we don't have time to communicate and connect. The good news is, you can stop the 'hamster on a wheel' mentality and slow down without falling behind.

Here are ways to slow down, relax and reclaim a balanced life.

Find your sweet spot
​We all get to a point when we feel overwhelmed. Instead of trying to function in that state, give yourself time to wrap your mind around the task or situation at hand. Take a short walk, sit outside in the sun, listen to your favorite soothing songs. Give yourself an opportunity to find your sweet spot', the place where you are both relaxed and productive. When we focus on all the details that need done, we get overwhelmed. Walking away for a few minutes allows us to reset and get to a place of acting mindfully versus reacting out of anxiety and panic.

Everyone appreciates a compliment but many of us don't know quite how to accept them gracefully.

Compliments can make us feel uncomfortable. We don't want to appear as though we are 'tooting our own horn' by accepting a compliment yet at the same time, we want to enjoy it.

Below are a few tips to graciously accepting the gift of compliments.

Compliments are gifts.  
The best response when someone compliments you is simply: Thank you.

If that doesn't feel like enough, try to keep your response short and sincere. “Thank you, my parents gave this to me and it’s always been one of my favorites,” or 
”Thank you, I really enjoyed presenting to your group,”
 or “Thanks so much, that means a lot to me.“

Accept All Compliment
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When we deflect or turn down a compliment, we are basically insult the giver.

Giver: I love your outfit. It was the perfect thing to wear to this event.

Receiver: Oh, this old thing? I grabbed it out of the back of my closet.  I don't really like it, but it was too late to find something better.

That response informed the person who complemented you that they have poor taste. Now they are wondering why they offered you a compliment to begin with.

What should you have said? Thank you.

Don’t Make Yourself Look Bad

Your manager told you that you did a fantastic job on a project. You don’t want to sound arrogant, so to downplay it,  you point out all the things you should have done better. “Thanks, but I wish we would have finished earlier.” Or “I didn’t do much. The team really made this project happen.” While it is important to give credit to the right people, don’t reject credit you’ve rightfully earned.

By pointing out your mistakes or giving full credit to others, your manager may decide you’re right.

​Throughout our lives, we are faced with many choices that involve taking risks.  As a toddler, learning to walk is risky since we will fall many times as we master this new skill. Then we head off to school, putting us out of our comfort zone. And so, on it goes.
 
As we get older, many of these risks are more challenging because they tend to be life-altering. Maybe it’s making a huge career change, becoming an entrepreneur, moving across the country or even the world, deciding on a life partner or whether to start a family.  Anytime we go out on a limb, we are faced with risk.
 
By its very nature, risk is frightening. We can’t be certain of the outcome and thoughts of, “What if I fail?” tend to dominate our thoughts. Yet if we never take a chance, we may find ourselves living an unfulfilled life.
 
Remember, great things never came from comfort zones. Here are a few things to consider when making a major life change.
 
Make a plan. By planning carefully and using basic risk management techniques, we can lessen risk while increasing the odds of our success.