3 Key Steps to Developing an Authentically Balanced Lifestyle

hello everyone my name is jidell lee

and i’m going to be honest

i was lost at 19 in my second year of

college

i tried to find myself in someone else

and this wasn’t the first time

but i tried to find myself in a woman i

moved in with her i enjoyed every moment

with her and yet

i was still lost and then one day she

decides

that it’s not working for her anymore or

better yet

i wasn’t working for her anymore and she

actually kicked me out

now i’m not gonna lie i did feel some

type of way

i was definitely in my feelings

i didn’t think about the severity of the

situation i didn’t even think about

what was going to come next i was just

so proud in that moment

i just wanted to leave so i went to go

sleep at the taj no actually i went to

go sleep

at the park because i didn’t have

anywhere else to go

again i was trying to find myself in

someone else and i found myself

sleeping in a park sharing a can of

beans with a homeless gentleman

and i could have never imagined my being

homeless at 19 my being homeless in

college

and it was in that moment that i

realized

you can’t find yourself in someone else

now

this didn’t hit me until it got dark my

phone was about to die and it started to

get a little cold

and as a person this was the first time

i could see myself

in retrospect as an adult i couldn’t

blame anyone

i couldn’t even feel sorry for myself i

just had to keep going

and that was hard so the next day i went

to class

i didn’t know where to leave my thing so

i left them with a friend and unable to

do laundry you could literally

smell my socks through my shoes and then

i was so broke

that i would ask my friends for some of

their lunch

now all of this while pursuing my

education

and make no mistake i wanted to finish i

was determined to finish because i

believed

that if i finished that all of this

would be over that the struggle

wouldn’t be so real so i did

i graduated i got that degree i

walked that stage and i felt good

and then i started couch surfing

again thinking that if i finished that

all of this would be over

i still ended up on someone else’s couch

and again i just wanted to be

over i wanted it to be done and i

believed

that something would come of it so i

just kept pursuing my dream

and at the time i thought my only dream

was dancing

so i became a professional i got signed

to a professional talent agency i got to

meet

and work with some incredible people and

it was

awesome the challenge was

i was always broke i could never settle

or get settled anywhere and

i always felt like i was coming and

going and even though i was getting what

i thought i wanted

at the time it was never enough

now during this time i decided to leave

la

and give myself roughly five years to

figure out what area

of dance to focus on couch surfing and

all

and because i had nothing to lose i went

for it all

i became a professional dance educator

a professor i became a touring

adjudicator a published author even an

entrepreneur

and now a public speaker

and after all of this it finally hit me

it’s all just as important

am i being caught up in relationships my

being homeless

am i not trying to give up all help me

to discover the importance of developing

an authentically balanced lifestyle i

learned

an authentically balanced lifestyle was

important it’s

important because it helps you

understand it helps you see that things

will come in part

mental emotional spiritual

even physical it’s learning how to

balance all of who you are it’s

discovering all the things that make you

you

and understanding that everything is

just as important

for example your emotional health

is just as important as your career

goals your career goals are just as

important

as your spiritual health even your

mental health now the key

is learning how to balance it all out so

that you become

your most authentic self even your

physical health it’s

just as important and i’ve learned the

challenge is

discovering what’s important to you

now for me what was important was making

a lasting impact

i love helping people grow and develop i

love seeing people become

versions of themselves that they can be

proud of that they can be excited about

that they can

look forward to to someone else it might

be

going out getting a good grade going out

and

and becoming that high-powered success

that they always envision for themselves

or simply

preparing and and supporting their

family

but i’ve learned that even in all of

that everything matters

you cannot neglect your mental or your

emotional or

even your spiritual health as you aspire

to reach your goals

now i can say this because even am i

wanting to see myself complete

i had to learn i could not neglect

seeing myself in any other area that

i had to include my mind my body even my

soul

again i had to balance it out why

because you’re always continuing to grow

you’re always evolving

so even am i making a lasting impact i

had to learn

how to get out of my own way how to

raise my self-confidence and

how to start believing in myself which

is in fact

a part of self-care

i mean even now i’m in a season of

preparation which i’ve learned

preparation affects every other

dimension of yourself

if you want to be successful you have to

prepare

if you want to go out and get good

grades get a degree

you have to prepare i mean if you want a

hearty lunch

at the end of the day you have to

prepare and what i’m learning is

even as i’m becoming an authentic

version of myself

those expense those dimensions are

always going to expand

and in that god is always going to

introduce

something new there are three

steps to developing an authentically

balanced lifestyle

step one recognize what is important to

you

in recognizing what’s important to you

this simply means

identifying or even discovering what you

desire to see for your life

what you desire to see for yourself and

striving to be bold

in pursuing your goals now over time

i’ve learned

pursuing your goals it it requires

confidence

it requires courage that

even in that you’ll discard you’ll

discover areas

black you’ll discover growth

opportunities now

i’m going to implore you i’m going to

encourage you pursue those opportunities

in those opportunities you become your

most authentic

self which leads us to step two

recognize that you cannot neglect one

area of growth

for the other in recognizing you can’t

neglect one area of growth for the other

you understand that things will come in

part

that each season of your life will

reveal something new within you

it will reveal something new about you

and in that you’ll discover

just how dynamic you are just how

resilient you are how creative how

amazing you are

that you’re in fact not a one size fits

all

and in that this means believing

that you’re enough and then finally

we get to step three recognize it all as

important and recognizing it all is

important

everything and i mean everything that

you experience whether it’s good

whether it’s bad not only is important

to your future success but it

contributes to who you are today

so i encourage you i implore you to

learn to value all of your experiences

because in doing so you become a better

you you begin to see

all of your aspects as valuable and you

become the greatest version of yourself

so recognizing what is important to you

recognizing you cannot neglect one area

of growth for the other

and recognizing it all is important all

while embracing

your story are the three steps to

developing

an authentically balanced lifestyle

thank you