By Sally Napthali

I have a hat for every occasion. The hat I love the most is the fun, crazy mum hat where I’m silly and make my kids laugh. I have other hats too, some I like and some I don’t. There’s the nurse hat to kiss a bruised knee. The chief hat to cook meals, the job hat, the laundry hat, the teacher hat, the cleaner hat, the fix-it hat, the wife hat, the lover hat, the counsellor hat and the list goes on.

It’s hard work swapping hats all day, trying to be something to everyone. I regularly put one hat on only to have to swap it seconds later, and with every hat change a little more of my energy is poured out. I can get very drained from effort of switching tasks all day.

What I’ve learnt, is that to live a healthy functioning life, you need balance.

Take a glass for instance. If you fill a glass with water and gradually drink a little at a time, the glass with eventual be empty. This is the same for people. There is nothing worse than feeling like you have nothing left in the tank – where you have given out everything of yourself to all the different types of responsibility that you have.

You can help measure how balanced your life is by visualising scales. Try drawing a picture of old fashioned balancing scales. On one side of the scales write all the things that require something of you. These are ‘the drainers’. On the other side of the scales write all the things that give you energy and make you feel good, ‘the fillers’. The fillers are things you enjoy which fill your capacity to give out to others.

My fillers are: great coffee, the company of friends, action movies, roller skating, bike riding, my sister, sitting in the sun, daily ten minute quality time chats with my husband, cuddles, prayer, writing, music and painting.

Your list doesn’t have to be complicated and it needs to be things you can easily access and do regularly. Write your list today to check you have your life in balance. No one else can do this for you. You have to take care of yourself by incorporating several of your FILLERS into you weekly routine! Remember the more you fill yourself up, the more you’ll have to give to the people you love.

About Sally Napthali
Hobart resident Sally Napthali is a mother of four and currently writing a book for people who were sexually abused as children. She believes healing is real, and stands alongside people, to help them to obtain healing for themselves. You can visit her blog: Beyond the Surface