11 Simple Ways to Build an Ideal Lifestyle

Your Lifestyle Decides The Quality of Your Life. | Image: Pexel.com

How you live your life impacts you in more ways than you realize. An ideal lifestyle structure will always act as a force that pushes you forward in life through all the ups and downs. On the other hand, a poor lifestyle can cause you to spiral down in life.

If your lifestyle is not helping you to be better and experience the best possible life, then you are likely falling behind in some aspect of your life, i.e. one of the 11 aspects I believe form the core of a good lifestyle.

Of course, there can be other aspects to an ideal lifestyle depending on your personality and what is important to you. You can personalize your lifestyle as per your needs.

But these are the 11 aspects that affect us all.

11 Simple Ways to Build an Ideal Lifestyle

1. Get Serious About Your Health

A good lifestyle is incomplete without a healthy body. By health, I mean both physical and mental health.

I know this is how most wellness posts start, but that’s how important this is. Everything else will fall apart and would not mean much without an adequately healthy body.

When I say get serious about health, I don’t necessarily mean hit the gym, build big muscles, and stop eating certain food items. Healthy living can be simple. In fact, healthy living should be and is simple; only then you can repeat it every day and enjoy it.

Anything complex can never stick to permanence.

The good news is that the first common step to mental and physical health is good nutrition, sleep, and regular exercise.

These three factors will always affect your health and how you feel and live. It will help you stay within the healthy weight bracket, prevent diseases, and balance other aspects of mental health, like focus, a sense of positivity, resilience, and more.

Therefore, add 30 minutes of exercise to your schedule, and learn to prepare a simple yet balanced diet at home. Additionally, sleep well and spend some time daily to relax.

2. Learn To Manage Stress

In addition to food, exercise and sleep, stress management is crucial for optimal health.

Chronic stress is a leading cause of various mental and even physical illnesses, like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, inflammatory diseases, and more.

It’s possible that you may not be able to avoid stress in your life altogether. Stressors will always be in the form of school, work, loved ones, and even your own thoughts and beliefs.

Stress being inevitable mandates that you learn to manage stress.

You may or may not be able to realize that you are stressed, especially if you are chronically stressed. Therefore, having a destressing routine can be helpful.

I can say from experience that a stressed-out body can never function well, neither mentally nor physically.

I personally like to do nothing rather than do something. Not doing anything helps me quiet my mind better because I tend to overthink.

Similarly, if you feel tightness in the muscles/body, try progressive muscle relaxation.

Deep breathing exercises, meditation, and mindfulness are other proven methods to relax and bring your thoughts to the present moment.

3. Practice Minimalism: Eliminate The Unnecessary

It’s not just the pleasing-to-the-eyes, clutter-free environment that made a lot of people in recent times gravitate towards minimalistic living.

Why minimalism? The short answer is it makes your life simpler.

Minimalism makes you value things that are truly important rather than giving value to materialistic things. Also, cleaner space promotes a clearer mind, so you can think and feel better.

Recent studies support these claims as well. As per some early studies, minimalism promotes the feeling of freedom, and authenticity, reduces stress, creates mental space, and promotes positive emotions and mindfulness.

On top of all that, it saves a lot of money. Nobody needs all the junk they buy, and we all buy junk we don’t need every.

So, minimalism is the answer if you have a problem with money, self-worth, and being happy in general.

Now, you don’t have to start throwing away everything you own. You can start by putting away the things you don’t use very frequently out of your sight– in a closet, separate room, or storage facility. And once you feel certain things you may not need at all, you can sell those things or give them away. One step at a time is the way to go.

4. Socialise With The Right People

Social interaction as a part of an ideal lifestyle? Well, yes!

Socialising with others is an essential factor as it strengthens and supports you.

By this, I don’t mean you have to party every day or that you need to know an army of people. Socializing means spending time and building stronger relationships with people you trust and who matter to you. One, two, or more is irrelevant.

Good social connection is proven scientifically to help us maintain healthy lifestyle and increases quality of life.

Additionally, it’s a great way to stimulate your feel-good hormones naturally.

Good relationships make you happy, and our loved ones always encourage us to make better decisions.

So I don’t see why someone wouldn’t want to spend an hour of senseless chat with their best friend.

Remember, we have evolved as a social being. Therefore, meaningful connections are always going to be a factor that affects our well-being. There is strength in unity.

5. Intentional Living: Know Your Why

In simple words, intentional living means having a reason behind everything you do.

Intentional living involves living according to your beliefs and values. When you live intentionally, your actions are complementary to the way you think and want to live your life.

Living based on our values provides a sense of freedom and authenticity, which is great for our well-being.

Intentional living also involves doing something with a reason. It involves asking yourself questions like: What are you doing? Why are you doing it? How is it going to impact you and the people around you?

Knowing what you are doing and why you are doing it can help you stay focused on what’s really important to YOU and your loved ones.

Rather than distributing our focus on things we unnecessarily burden ourselves with, we can stay on course when we live intentionally.

Intentional living can help you live a purposeful life.

6. Spiritual Health Is Equally Important

Spirituality can mean different things to different people. For some, it is a feeling of connection with something bigger than ourselves, and to others, it can be something as simple as taking some time out every day to sit in peace.

You define what spirituality means to you.

It isn’t only about following a particular religion. If that comforts you, then that may be the way for you.

Others seek spirituality through nature, meditation, yoga, or a mix of multiple religious practices. It can also be simply about sipping a cup of tea in the morning, enjoying the sunrise, and listening to the birds chirp.

Studies suggest that spiritual people are more grateful, compassionate, and optimistic. They also experience better health outcomes, such as less depression and lower blood pressure.

Translation: they experience more good emotions as well as better health.

So, don’t be afraid to have your own beliefs, and don’t forget to practice them because they will help you attain peace.

The purpose of spirituality is to practice being at peace, which is not disturbed by the turmoils of life. This helps build character and makes us a better decision maker even in adversities.

7. Manage Your Time: Work And Personal Both Needs Priority

When we think we are too busy to engage in the things that bring true happiness to us, guess what– life will always seem unhappy.

And this is why time management is necessary– so you can have a work-life balance.

Don’t get so caught up in work that you never have time to see your kids grow up, pursue your true passion, or even relax for 30 minutes.

If not daily, at least once a weekend or once in a while, plan to spend quality time with your loved ones.

Delegate wherever you can if that allows you to spend more time doing what you love.

Time management is one of the best life skills you can learn. If you want to have a life full of varied experiences, you should know how to balance your time between everything you do and want to do. Only then does life feel rich.

Make a schedule, and plan for bigger adventures.

8. Learn To Manage Your Money

Sure, money can’t buy happiness, but it sure gets you home, bread and butter, and education. Money, no doubt, is a primary need for us.

Therefore, learning how to manage money is crucial. How much money one needs or is enough for a family depends on many factors and so, it is a decision for you to make– i.e. how much is good enough to make you feel secure.

Start saving money according to your goals. If you need more, upgrade your skills and experience– to the best of your abilities and given your circumstances. No matter how small your paycheck is, save some money every month, even if that means saving 10 bucks.

Investing your money will get you a better value for your money in the long term, so find a plan that suits your lifestyle and income.

Money is one concept most adults fail at. So, doing our best to learn the basics of it is always desirable.

9. Spend A Few Minutes Each Day For Self-Care

Dedicate at least 10 minutes for your self-care each day. The activity doesn’t have to be very complex, but you can get creative with it.

It could be anything:

• You can spend 10 minutes on your morning or night-time routine, or
• Enjoying a cup of tea in silence,
• breathing exercises, meditation or mindfulness.
• stretching
• playing with your pet
• reading
• Art and crafts, etc.

Do the ritual that you need to do; the ritual that makes you feel alive! It doesn’t have to be a mainstream thing. Do what YOU like to do, what makes you feel light and relaxed.

Self-care will help with self-image, will help you maintain a healthy and positive lifestyle, and reduce stress and anxiety to many folds. When you treat yourself in a caring way, you automatically develop self-confidence and become more comfortable in your skin. It is a direct way to practice self-love. And for that, sometimes, all you need is 10 minutes of silence.

Self-care has many forms. Starting from getting your regular health checkups to a simple night time routine— all can fall under the umbrella of self-care. So, ensure you are taking appropriate steps as per your needs.

10. Hobbies Are Important For Many Reasons

Hobbies can keep you sane in this crazy world. It can be your perfect escape, and you will always feel good and refreshed when you’re done.

Engaging in something creative is often a great brain-teaser and gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you complete a project or overcome a creative obstacle. This will boost your confidence.

Hobbies can be a great stress reliever, and they stimulate your creativity.

Creativity is not just art. It is the problem-solving skills– looking at a problem from different angles, trying to troubleshoot it, and looking for new things to learn. The more you stimulate your creativity, the more it will ripple in the other areas of your life.

If you are an overthinker, or have anxiety or depression, hobbies can be helpful for you as well. it may help keep your mind occupied in doing something constructive, rather than dwelling in negative thinking in your free time.

Additionally, hobbies can strengthen your bond with your child as you teach them what you know.

Hobbies are proven to promote mental health. (1)(2)

Therefore, make some time to do what truly makes your soul feel alive.

11. Don't Forget About The Goals You Made

Some people are going with the flow kind of people, and some people are planners. Both ways of living are right.

However, even if you are going with the flow kind of person, you will still have a rough plan of what to do next and the things that need to be done. You may want to go back to school and upgrade your resume, shed a few pounds, or you may want to save up more money for yourself and your family. These are your goals.

Some goals are short-term– what you need to do in a day, week, or month, and some goals are long-term– what you need to do in a year or 5 years.

But, regardless of what kind of goals you have or how small they seem– keep working on them.

Working on your goals and yourself will give you a sense of purpose. Also, as we all know, the path to a goal is never straight, so it teaches you a lot.

Having goals will make your life more meaningful.

Therefore, take one small step every day that will help you get closer to your goals and develop skills that will help you be better than yesterday.

Conclusion: Your Lifestyle Is Important

Our lifestyle defines our lives. It decides how happy and healthy we will be, and how much we will grow. This is why you should keep an active eye on what you’re doing and how your lifestyle is.

Only you can decide what an ideal lifestyle is for you. But the ideas shared in this post will help get started if you don’t know where to start. These simple changes in your life can help you find out what’s ideal for you.

Speaking from experience, finding out what’s ideal for you is a trial and error process. The mainstream things may not be for you, and the ancient concepts may be. So, take the ideas, do your experiments and find out what works for you; what makes you feel healthy, happy, and fulfilled.

Start by modifying your diet and exercise. Practice mindfulness, make your living intentional and save money. Learn new things, and take time to experience new things. These are the basics which most of us need. The rest is for you to decide.

Plan your lifestyle in a way that will bring immense joy and happiness to you.

Your genetics load the gun. Your lifestyle pulls the trigger. — Unknown

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© Quirky Writes 2018

Updated: November 2024