My “Life Wheel”
Another exercise I performed this week was to look at my “Life Wheel” – a way of assessing my satisfaction with life from a number of different perspectives. Here’s what it looks like.
It makes for interesting reading.
Despite the fact that I was recently diagnosed with a skin cancer, I consider myself to be in rude health. I have lost weight, my blood pressure is fine and I suffer from no specific health problems. OK, I could do with a bit more exercise, but that’s about it. As far as the cancer is concerned, what can I do? I hope it was caught early enough and that it won’t reoccur. Other than that I’m going to get on with life.
Wealth is a concern, but for me, life has never been about wealth. It’s enough for me to get by and be happy. Obviously it may becoime a much bigger concern if I don’t secure this new job, but that’s a worry I’d rather not think about.
My relationship with my family has never been better. I’m back in the family home with my kids. My mother and my siblings are in regular contact with me. I am also lucky to have some very good friends who care about me.
Interestingly, the time I have had for play, leisure and just having fun has suffered in recent times. I lost my sense of fun while I was away working in a job I hated. I’m looking forward to getting back into my hobbies and new interests. Already I can sense a move in that direction.
Relationships. This is probably not as bad as it would seem, given that this blog was started to help me to get through the break up of my marriage. My relationship with my ex/wife is good these days. I don’t have anyone else in my life but I’m happy to let this be the case at the moment, at least until things settle down.
Satisfaction with my career is rock-bottom for obvious reasons, having just been left go from my previous employment. However there is light at the end of this tunnel. Everything is telling me that I should be moving into a career track that involves teaching and lecturing, and I’m making concrete moves in this direction.
Personal space – I guess I long for time away for myself: up the mountains:by the sea: anywhere that gives me time to think. It’s not a big priority though. It’s nice being with my family too.
Even though I am not a spiritual person, I understand what this is getting at – having that belief that I am doing something with my life: that life has meaning and that I am contributing to the world around me. I scored myself very low on this, because of my state of self given everything that has gone on.
What this tells me is that everything is not so bad: there are some big plusses to my life at the moment. Yes, my career is in bad shape and my self-esteem has taken a battering, but my family situation, the fact that I am back home and in good health is compensation enough.
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