The wheel of life is a tool used to identify where we are out of balance in our lives. I did this as an activity with my team of 18-22 year old girls as they were having a hard time seeing 'eye to eye' on a few things on the court. This showed them that there are similarities in certain aspects of their lives but to also appreciate their differences. Worked like a charm and was a fabulous activity to do as a group!
I also did one for myself at the time, going though 8 'aspects' of my life and I rated them from 1 - 10 as follows:
'Romantic' Relationships - 2 out of 10 - hahahaha! Yeah, I know this is a pretty dismal representation of my 'love life' but its the truth. I dunno, I just don't really have time to date and when I do its either not a good match for me....or I don't have time to commit to the relationship... I guess I'm not really looking at this point in my life so I also don't feel that this rating of 2/10 needs to go up...ok, maybe I'll get it up to a 3...sometime.
Sports - 9 out of 10 - aaahhhh...the real love of my life! I can't help but put 100% effort and commitment to the sports I do play. And if I'm playing them there is a good chance I am also reffing/coaching them as well. I have actually said NO to a couple sports this year, Tackle Football and Rugby as I feel that I don't have the time to commit and adding them to my plate would be a huge imbalance. I am also not coaching the junior program next year for handball as I am trying to take the 9/10 rating down to about a 7.
Family - 7 out of 10 - I think this is a good level of family. It means I always have enough time for them and make my mom, baba, brothers, aunts/uncles, doggy a priority. I am happy with the level of family I allow into my life and I think I would keep it at a 7/10.
Health - 5 out of 10 - I would like this one to go up...and it is...slowly. After my dad died, I didn't take a lot of time for myself/didn't really care to care for myself cause I had too many other things that I considered to be more important than myself. Since I started doing yoga I've been able to slowly make more time for me and see that my health is important on my wheel of life. So I will continue to practice regularly as well as maybe work some weights/cardio into my routine in the future. I ultimately would like this to be an 8/10.
Career - 9 out of 10 - I have always been career driven so I'm not surprised that I would consider this to be a huge part of my life. I am always busy with work...but I don't consider it to be a bad thing! Since I started my new position at the studio though I have been giving more and more of my responsibility away at the bar...but I still have to be there for major events and I still have to do the parts of the bar that require my know how. Once I get settled into everything, I can see this going down to maybe an 8/10 or 7/10 (which would be ideal).
External Surroundings - 3 out of 10 - I NEED to give more love to this department. I feel that my house is and has been in disarray for a few years now. I am usually so organized and since my dads death, like I had mentioned with my health, my home has also not been given a lot of attention. I need to go through about 5 years worth of clothes and donate a bunch, I need to give my living room a new paint job, and I need to organize my studio. Ultimately I'd like to see this at a 6/10 in about a years time if I can get all those little tasks done for myself. Aaaaaand if I can finish the rock wall at the cottage this summer. Then I'll be happy.
Finances - 5 out of 10 - This is a funny one cause I feel like its not a priority in my life, yet I have a pretty good investment portfolio. I guess I'd like to cut down on my 'needless' spending (clothes *cough* clooothes...) and save my money for more trips and adventures. So maybe if I could be a little more cautious with my spending I could balance and get my finances up to a 6/10.
Personal Growth - 5 out of 10 - I feel that this needs to be higher on my priorities as growing and developing myself with skills and intellectually is something I really enjoy. Its like my 'relaxing time'...like when people are reading books like 'shades of grey' I like to read 'how to' books and try to learn something practical. Ideally I would like my personal growth to be around 7 or 8.
Making my Wheel:
I made my wheel out of glass. Art and glass being a big part of my life, I felt it was a good medium to work in and a medium that is very natural to me. I'm not very good at drawing or doing any other sort of visual representation.
1. First I made my circle base using my circle cutter. I then cut pie pieces out of different colors of thin glass.
2. I placed them in the kiln.
3. Fired it up to 1425 degrees and held the fuse for 18 minutes. After 15 hours of cooling, I was able to place my 'gauge' on each piece of the pie.
4. Once I placed the pieces (I cut little squares of the same color and made the top of each pie be a piece of dichroic (shiny) glass) I fired up the piece once again at the same temperature for the same amount of time. The result was a rather wonky looking wheel of life...its a little diamond shaped.
I made this piece into a clock so it will remind me on what I need to change in order to make my life a little more balanced every time I look at it.
