Self Advocacy
Now that you have a sense of your strengths and challenges, it is helpful to look at how these strengths and challenges apply to your overall life. This will help you establish a baseline for where you are right now and where you want to go in the future. Start by thinking about all the different areas of your life. For example, if you made a pie chart of your life as a college student you might include the following life dimensions (Daily Living, School/Work, Health, Relationships, Recreation/Leisure, Spirituality/Purpose).
Balancing Your Life
It is important to remember that your life is not one-dimensional. It includes all the areas listed above and more. To achieve success in life it is important to strive for some type of balance between all your life areas. This does not mean that the same amount of time is spent in each life area, but it does mean that each area receives some of your time. If you have a lot of stress in one area of your life and therefore, are spending most of your time in this area, it will impact all the other parts of your life.
For example, if you take too many classes and become stressed, you might spend most of your time on schoolwork and neglect exercise, sleep, eating right, and friendships. As a result, your health and relationships might suffer which could affect your academic performance. Similarly, if you spend a lot of time on social activities your grades might become compromised.
Alberta Education. (2005). Self-advocacy. https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/kes/pdf/or_ws_tea_life_03_selfadv.pdf
