Your personal energy is your most valuable, yet variable, currency. Energy capacity is designed to fluctuate - yet we’re conditioned to go nonstop. We know that each day has differing energy demands; however, it is so easy to exhaust it all with the intention to ‘restore it later.’
When self-care is non-existent or too rigid, we can lose a sense of self and balance. It is exhausting to live in a constant state of GO, thereby creating chronic stress which can lead to burnout.
As a health-conscious go-getter and burning out 4x, here is what I’ve learned:
No bootstrapping can pull you out of burnout.
Low energy states are shamed in our society, so we’re rarely taught to honor them.
How you transition out of low energy states is as important (if not more so) than understanding how you got there.
It is a common cycle to blast from shutdown to full-tilt and then crash harder.
The secondary crash can often create a shame cycle, overthinking and disconnection.
I moved states, shifted careers and changed relationships but didn’t break the boom-bust cycle until I realized it was my nervous system that needed rewiring for rhythm.
Rhythm is life, life is flow, flow is balance and balance is efficient. Finding ‘balance’ stems from a feeling of easeful communication across our nervous system, the communication highway that interprets signals from the environment and sends signals back out to our environment about who we are. The key to ride the highs and the lows of life, without getting stuck in a jolt of stuck survival energy or the deflation of shutting-down, is nervous system flexibility. How? Welcome to the practice of real-time resilience to reclaim your personal energy - reset in the moment, recharge throughout the day, and restore appropriately at the end of each day.
Since stress is simply a demand on our energy – think about how many demands are there on your energy. For some, it is way too much and for others, not enough! We experience life through our layers of energy: physical, emotional, mental, intellectual, and bliss layers. When we tend to all the layers of our energy, we authentically care for our whole self – burning bright instead of burning out.
As you tend to your whole self, reflect on what nourishes your layers of energy and what depletes them.