The Foundations of a Well-Rounded Life.

In my twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight years of life, I've learned these are the building blocks of a satisfactory and full life.

Since I was very young, I have always been pressed by the idea of purpose.

I was aware that my life was meant for something, but I've always struggled with not knowing, so the pursuit of my life's purpose began.

One of my biggest mistakes was thinking that my life wouldn't amount to much if it weren't this big, heroic, and entertaining tale of challenges and accomplishments.

The reality is my life is very much like any other person's. This may sound like I’m downplaying things, but I’m not.

I've realized something important recently, and it’s what inspired me to write this blog; it’s that all our lives are already filled with challenges and accomplishments — we just think they aren't.

So, in the pursuit of my purpose, I've learned that to be truly content and satisfied with life, there are foundations, and here's what I believe to be the foundations of a well-rounded and full life.

Purpose/Faith.

Purpose and faith go hand in hand.

You can't believe in having a purpose without first having faith.

I derive my faith from God and Jesus — the deities I follow and the foundation of my faith.

Thanks to my faith, I believe I have a purpose, and my life is meant for something.

This fundamental belief pushes me to keep working every single day to create a life based on the values and beliefs I have determined are important to me as an adult and human being.

Thanks to all of this, I'm sure of who I am, what I stand for, and what I want to pursue.

Knowing my life has purpose gives me hope, even on the most challenging days, that every day on this earth is valuable — my life is valuable.

If I don't believe my life to be valuable, why would I get up in the morning and work towards anything?

The rest of this list stems from this. In my opinion, the foundation of your life starts with what you believe about life itself and if there's any purpose in it.

Without faith or purpose, you give into hopelessness. When you feel hopeless, you give up.

Health.

Both mental and physical.

We've heard the stories of people who've had it all, but once their health is in jeopardy, nothing else matters.

We've heard the stories of people having it all, but because they lack purpose and faith, may be facing a mental illness, and don't have someone to advocate for them, they lose the battle for their lives.

If you're not physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy, other areas of your life automatically suffer — this can be said for any of the things I've listed.

The good news is we have a lot of control over our health.

We can choose to eat healthier, work out, read, journal, pursue counseling, educate ourselves, and make daily decisions that can improve our overall health.

As I mentioned, extenuating circumstances can get in the way of a person having optimal health — illnesses and diseases, unfortunately, can affect any of us at any moment's notice.

However, this shouldn't stop us from pursuing a healthier lifestyle.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle will decrease the odds of becoming sick in the future — mentally and physically.

Making our health a priority allows us to enjoy life's intangible, priceless moments — to wake up every day and continue to move forward.

Organization/Responsibility.

These also go hand in hand.

You can't be organized without being responsible — being an organized person requires a sense of responsibility for yourself and your belongings.

The starting point of responsibility should be your finances.

Why? Because if you're not organized financially, your life is not organized, period.

When you're not in control of your finances, your life is a hundred times more stressful, and every aspect of your life is affected.

Money is a part of life. Whether we believe it's the root of all evil or not, we all require it to meet our most basic needs.

Knowing exactly where your finances are will help you meet those needs day in and day out, as well as any additional goals and desires.

I've achieved a lot thanks to being organized with my finances — I recommend doing this by creating and following a budget.

When you know precisely how your cash flows, you can determine what goes where — what to keep and spend. This allows you to be completely aware of your money, giving you the freedom to choose.

Another component that comes from responsibility is discipline — again, I don't think you can be disciplined without first believing you have responsibilities.

Having discipline to follow a budget will bleed into other areas of your life. Having discipline towards anything will have this effect.

Discipline with your diet, discipline with your workouts, discipline with cleaning, organizing, etc.

Being responsible, organized, and disciplined frees you to do what you want with the extra time and money you have. These traits will also help you use these additional resources wisely to better yourself and your future.

Relationships.

Both romantic and platonic.

If your life is full of chaotic people, your life is chaos.

You know that saying, show me the five people closest to you, and I'll show you who you are?

That's because the people you let close can determine the course of your life — the people who influence you.

Relationships impact our emotional and mental health — even physical.

If the people close to you are chaotic, disorganized, or irresponsible, and all they do is complain about how life is unfair and things never work out — beware.

Often, these people lack self-awareness and don't bother to look in the mirror and realize that a good chunk of their problems are due to their irresponsibility and disorganization.

These kinds of people can bring a lot of stress into your life — and stress has negative consequences for both your mental and physical health.

This doesn't mean cutting out anyone who doesn't make you happy. No. This means making sure the people close to you value the same things you do.

Hopefully, that's being a faith-filled and purpose-driven person who is responsible and organized, cares about their health and others, values their relationships, and is self-aware.

In a nutshell, have friends and a romantic partner who care about you, their impact, and their health and are striving towards goals and moving their lives forward — good relationships add to your life, not take from it.

If there's anything you'd like to add or expand on, please leave a comment!

I hope this blog was helpful, entertaining, and informative.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far!