What have you noticed?
Eat and sleep when you can. Always have extra water with you. (In your home, car and on your person when walking). Focus on the most important things. Avoid toxic substances, people and get them out of your life as soon as possible. Perfect practice makes perfect. Don't ever depend on anyone else to pack or take care of your stuff, ever. Say less and listen more. Write important items down and review them. Have a book with you in case you have to wait for long periods of time. Expect the unexpected and learn from it don't complain when situations don't turn out like you think they should have. Always be observant of who and what is in a room or place. Always clean your equipment so it will be ready when you need it to function. Always have a backup plan. Don't ever just have one pen with you.
These are a few of the things I remember from my Military training. I strive to notice what others don't, although I find myself being caught up in the norm of complacency, movies, TV and the busy life that ends up wasting my time. A doctor told me about a strange concept once called intuitive medicine, I won't let it take the place of professional medical advice although it was interesting. He said many times your body will tell you what it needs if we will only listen to it. Example: When I eat too much cheese or the wrong type of cheese I get allot of flem so we can gauge the appropriate amount of things we eat so it won't cause problems. All of us have heard "Moderation in all things" and I believe it.
People can be extreme with anything and then it can turn into an addiction. My definition of addiction is
"Anything that you do that causes negative consequences and you keep doing it anyway"
It could be spending too much time on any one thing which causes you to ignore your family or the important things in your life. I have seen friends spend so much time at the gym or watching sports that they began to loose their families, I have seen people become too religious or spend too much time on reading that their relationships suffer.
All too often people fall into addiction and then claim they are depressed. Real depression hits you when there is no cause for it otherwise it is not depression if there is a cause. If your mother dies you may say you are depressed which is incorrect because there is a cause for your sadness so it is not depression. Learning to deal with STUFF is important. Once a licensed therapist told one of my children "What does your inner therapist tell you?" they thought about it and answered and the response was actually quite insightful. We are now back to intuitive medicine listening to our own bodies or our inner therapist.
Strive to have balance in your life by looking at what is most important at different times of your life. For young people some of the legs of their four legged table that required you to have all four legs on the ground and supported might be the leg of Education, another leg may be Family and spiritual, another leg may be taking care of your body by eating and exercising and another leg may be emotional and mental support. Ignoring anyone of these legs can make the table fall. Often adults spend too much time at work and the other legs fall or they spend too much time away from family doing something else and they end up in divorce. I work with lots of people that place most of their important on their financial leg or work and money. They lack in their personal relationships and their lives are out of balance.
I have a friend and his legs are as follows: CHURCH - MUSIC - WORK - FAMILY
This is not a bad setup because this man is quite balanced and is very happy. He spends time serving others and has a great and healthy relationships with his friends and family. This friend of mine just finished medical school so he concentrated on EDUCATION for years and now he is taking a break and composing music.
When I was young my four legs were KARATE - MUSIC - SCHOOL - CHURCH and later I added girls to the mix which can be quite distracting. I am not saying we can only have four legs although I am saying that spending too much time on any leg can cause you to be off balance.