What aspects of your life do you want to enhance?

Written by Allen Souksawan 4/12/2021

We often find ourselves asking, “what about my life can I make better?” Many of us may go and make a list of things that we hope to improve. Once we look through that list, we might be excited for the opportunity to grow but intimidated by the changes we’ll have to make.

We might look at other people we know and wonder how they were able to change their lives so easily. But in truth, growth doesn’t come easy. You’ll have to dig deep into the depths of your character and be honest with yourself about your flaws.

However, some fundamental aspects of living are good places to start. To help you find what you can enhance in your life, we are going to start with the principles found in the old Latin phrase: Mens sana in corpore sano. This roughly translates to “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

Following this phrase, we can break down some of the more “universal” enhancements that most people can make in their lives. And after the mind and body, we’ll move on to your career and finance in their separate sections. We will visit each section by asking ourselves questions about aspects of our life. We invite you to answer honestly to yourself and think about the areas you want to improve.

Physical Health

Are you taking care of your body?

Although the phrase starts with mens sana (a healthy mind), enhancing the corpore (body) takes a steady effort that is very difficult to get started with. The good news is that this gets easier over time. 

There are many opinions on the important aspects of health, but in general, they can be broken down into 3 “keys”: Exercise, Nutrition, and Recovery.

Exercise

• Strength - The amount of force you can produce to move yourself or an object.

• Endurance - How long you can exert yourself without running out of breath or tiring.

• Balance/Coordination - The ability to use multiple muscle groups to steady yourself.

• Flexibility - The ability to move your limbs to their full range of motion.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Am I happy with how I look?

• Can I step up during an emergency?

• Do I feel tired easily and often?

Exercise is broken down into several pillars of fitness, assess how much you can lift, how long you can exert yourself before tiring, and if you can move efficiently.

Nutrition - Proper Fuel for A Better Body

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do I drink enough water?

• Am I aware of what I put into my body?

• If I looked in my fridge and cupboards, how much is junk food compared to whole foods?

Fuel your meat suit. Or if you want to be all proper: eat well to make sure your body is functioning well.

Recovery - Sleep!

Questions to ask yourself:

• Is it hard to get out of bed in the morning?

• Do I have a hard time focusing on tasks because I’m so tired?

• How often do I find myself in a bad mood because of my lack of sleep?

We live in a society where work takes priority over rest. From all-nighters in college to working overtime, sleep is undervalued but vitally important. Most adults need around 7 hours minimum. How close do you get to that?

Cognitive and Emotional Health

We now move to the mens - “the mind”. I’ll break this into two keys: cognitive function (thinking and problem-solving skills) and emotional health.

Cognitive Function - Brain Power

Questions to ask yourself:

• How often am I challenged to think outside of my realm of thinking?

• Do I look for and practice new skills?

• What effort am I making to learn?

Many people tend to leave learning and thinking to academic environments and white-collar jobs. What they don’t realize is that with a conscious effort, you can bring out the best of your mind no matter who you are.

Emotional Health - Your Honest Feelings

Questions to ask yourself:

• How close do I feel to my loved ones?

• Why do I react the way I do when faced with a certain type of situation?

• Do I reflect on my feelings and actions or do I avoid them?

There’s a lot to uncover about our feelings. It’s okay if you find it scary sometimes. What matters is that you’re honest with yourself about it. The best question, in my opinion, is to ask “Why?”

Your Professional Career and Finances

We’re now going to be moving on the principle of a healthy mind in a healthy body, to the work side of things. 

Career - Work and Where You Want to Go From There

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do I find my work engaging?

• Where do I hope to be in 5 years?

• Does my work create a lifestyle I enjoy?

These questions may seem a little generic but are pivotal in deciding what you want to do with your career and the heights you hope to achieve.

Finance

Questions to ask yourself:

• What do I usually use my paychecks for?

• Do I know how to budget properly?

• What am I doing to reach my long-term financial goals?

What are you doing with your cash? Knowing your spending habits and managing your income is an important step to a life that’s a little less stressful.

Many of the questions presented in this post may be hard to answer. Perhaps, even a little intimidating to think about but don’t let your ego get in the way. There’s no shame in acknowledging what you may be lacking. Instead, you should be proud of the fact you took the step into the journey of becoming the person you want to be.