Here is the hard part!
Having just written about emotional Burn Out in the last post it is now time to look at the importance of refilling your cup and how we do that!
If we imagine your energy is stored in a cup. Each time you do tasks for yourself or others, such as when you work, socialise and support people, then you are pouring a little bit more energy out of your cup. If this is the case then it stands to reason that you must make sure you refill that cup. As we said before, when that cup runs dry then we run the risk of Burning Out. Trust me! That is no fun.
Rest: To refill/or keep our cup we need to make sure we are getting the rest that our body needs. Obviously we all have the odd late night but if we keep burning the candle at both ends then not only are we not giving our cup time to refill while we sleep. It is also going to take much more energy for us to be pleasant throughout the day and using our tired brains in making decisions.
Re-fuel: We need to make sure we are re-fuelling our bodies well. If we are filling our bodies with quick junk food because we are too busy to make healthy food then we are going to start to suffer. We need to make sure that our diet will sustain our bodies and that we are drinking plenty of fluids. (note to self… go get a drink if water! Woman cannot live on coffee alone)
Exercise: I know this isn’t everyone’s favourite word especially when we are busy and/or already tired but it is so important to refilling that energy cup. Yes of course if you are fatigued you may actually need a nap not a jog around the park but once we have the rest and the food sorted we need to keep this body in good working order. If we don’t then we are going to run out of physical and then emotional energy quicker than we should. Exercise also releases good/happy chemicals into the brain which in turn helps refill than energy cup.
Do nice things: Do nice and enjoyable things for yourself! Yes! Yes this is important and guess what? It isn’t selfish to be a little selfish! If we are constantly doing things for others and run out of energy, then we will burn out and in turn need help from others. So it is actually less selfish to actually take time for ourselves to do the things which we enjoy. This will help us to keep our energy cup fuller and keep us as a functioning member of society!
Spend time with nice people: Spend time with people who’s company makes you happy and feel good. If you feel your cup running empty then take stock of who you are spending time with. Yes we need to support our children (if we have them,) perhaps if we can we should help our family and friends however we also deserve to feel good. We deserve to spend time with people who make us feel good, who make us laugh and who help us feel better, fuller, by the time we leave not more drained.
Think pleasant thoughts: Take time to think about and plan pleasant things! If you are feeling drained it is very likely that you have been thinking a lot about things which you need to do, things which might be challenging, maybe you have even been worrying. You may have also been planning lots of tasks which are draining on your time and energy. You deserve to spend time on you! Thinking and planning those nice things you are going to do and those nice people you are going to spend time with.
Stop giving away so much energy! As we come to the end of this post, I want to give you a little heads up about our next post which will be about working out which things we should give our energy too and which things we should not give a hoot about. I will warn you that there may be a teeny bit of swearing in our next post… Don’t say that I didn’t tell you.
Inspire Liberty 