Personal, Cultural or Social Lifestyle Influences and How to Balance Responsibilities

Personal, Cultural or Social Lifestyle Influences
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Personal, Cultural or Social Lifestyle Influences
Apart from our schedules, are there personal, cultural or social influences upon our lifestyles? What could be an effective strategy for balancing our responsibilities with spontaneous moment?
Currently, having a schedule is the accurate representation of a person who is in control of their lives. People with schedules are seen as sane and responsible, but only a few of them are aware of how their schedules help to shape and influence their lifestyles. There are various types of schedules people keep, and each helps to shape a facet of one’s life. A work schedule, for example, will dictate how one uses their time during the day when they head to lunch, which meetings and seminars they choose to attend, and at times, the type of food they decide to take. While it might seem subtle at times, schedules help to plan and shape people’s days and to a large extent plays a role in one’s social life. However, aside from schedules, there are other personal, social, and cultural factors that can influence a person’s life. Most of these elements may not be obvious, or people may pay attention them little attention, but unbeknownst to them they do shape their lives and to a certain extent have an influence on the decisions they make. Whether personal, social, or cultural, there are factors aside from schedule which impact people’s lives and hence the focus of this article.
Personal factors simply represent the individual factors that can influence behavior. Examples of these include age, economic status, personality, occupation, etc. Each of these factors can indeed influence how people live their lives. According to Walljasper (2003), “our own human desire for more choices and new experiences also plays a role.” Today, there are different and enticing opportunities which people can be asked to be a part of. Currently, women are streaming to the gym in large numbers and joining yoga classes. While this can be a good health activity, it adds up on one’s schedule and complicates while also taking up one’s time. With such schedules, “but with only 24 hours allotted to us each day, something is lost too.” Walljasper mentions a very crucial yet overly ignored truth here: “you don’t just run into a friend anymore and decide to get coffee.” The majority will ignore this statement but none can deny the truth this statement holds.
Aside from personal factors, cultural factors can also influence how one lives their life. First of all, cultural factors represent a person’s set of moral values, beliefs, laws, language, and traditions. While on some occasions the effects of culture can be subtle, culture does lead people to assign meaning to things, to act in certain ways, and to behave in a particular way. For example, the improvement of technology has created a different culture which sadly steals more time from people. Everyone thought it would be the savior but as it turns out, it has plunged people further the abyss of living a prescheduled life. According to Walljasper (2003), “cell phones, e-mail, and laptop computers instil...