Tracking Your Energy: How Full Is Your Tank
What is your sense of your inner fuel tank? When is it time to refuel?
I’m one of those folks who fills up my vehicle with two-thirds of the tank still full. I do this partially to always be prepared and partially to avoid sticker shock at the pump. Over the holidays, my partner and I were running errands together and his car notified us that it had 55 miles to go before running on empty. I wondered aloud how he could let it get that low without refueling. “I let it tell me when I need to get gas,” he said.
If we listen to our energy in the proverbial tank over the course of our day-to-day, we are better able to catch ourselves before running on empty, or even before realizing that we don’t have many resources left to give to a person, conversation, or project or plan in any sustainable way.
I have many clients who slipped back into the new year’s work week refreshed after time off between the holidays. Yet, after three days back, they began to notice how the old feeling of being rushed or run down was already seeping in. Luckily, they noticed it and began to make course corrections. What they learned about themselves in the process inspired this post.
How in tune are you with your energy and what keeps it at optimal levels? How well do you know your fuel tank?
This time of year, if you’ve taken some time off, you may be heading back into the working life with a fresh mind. As you head back to the office, notice your energy and how it responds to being back at it at your desk or computer or in meetings.
What happens to your thoughts and to your body after a day of back-to-back meetings dictated by a full calendar? How do you feel? What sinks your energy or drains it? What in your day keeps you afloat energetically? What do you notice in you when this occurs?
Often when we’re overwhelmed we don’t heed the signposts that tell us stress is building and we blip right through whatever messages our body is sending us. Here’s a chance, though, as you head back into this new year to reset your patterns in a bigger way so that you’re driven by energy conservation instead of hustling-to-burnout.
What do you know about your natural pace? When are you able to have energy at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day? When has that happened in the past? What is that like for you? What is happening in the course of the day? How present are you? What do you do more or less of?
When we become overwhelmed, our nervous systems carry a stress burden and can increase our allostatic load. Soon, if we fail to process that stress, our capacity to handle more or anything new becomes limited. Without ongoing tending, processing to clear that stress, or pausing to integrate what’s happening for us, that allostatic load becomes a heavier burden and our full capacity begins to diminish.
How do you begin to notice this shift within yourself? You may have to tune into your natural pace, or begin to discover that that is. And, it might be useful to pay attention to the places in which…
- critical thinking wanes or you don’t have the energy to do critical thinking.
- listening is not at it’s full range and what you might be hearing less of what’s being said.
- communication skills are shorter and snappier and you have less emotional capacity for empathy.
- jumping to solve issues becomes a go-to instead of see them all arise across your radar and wonder what next steps might be.
- patience and presence for people and in depth and important discussions might be waning.
- your ability to be relational, to put the relationship before the task, becomes taxed.
- at the end of the day, you find yourself soothing with old habits (bourbon, carbohydrates, netflix, or other numbing agents/activities) or checking out, instead of diving into hobbies and extracurricular activities that add to your fuel tank.
This time of year especially, we are inundated with planning-planning-planning, timelines, and to-do lists that become more aspirational than realistic. Perhaps in our haste to do or be better, we end up overcommitting this year to a list of things we’d love to accomplish or set out to do.
What if we approached this time of year in a more steady way, less informed and rushed by hustle culture? What if we turned to the core of ourselves, our Big Self, and asked our body what we needed first?
Perhaps we need a different pace that’s more true to who we are. Maybe we need to allow ourselves to find that pace because we’ve not done it before. (Is it really possible to not go mach five with your hair on fire? Yes!) Maybe we need more blank space and rest. Perhaps that’s what will recharge us (and fertilize our creativity) more than anything. Maybe instead of planning for 2023, we need to be ready for the next step of whatever is in front of us.
Consider these questions a permission slip for deeply recharging your core self and stepping out into this year at a pace that’s true to you and minds your fuel tank:
- What does your body need right now? How can you give that to yourself?
- What pace feels right for you? How do you know when you’re going at ‘your natural pace’? What does that feel like?
- How can you commit to living and working at that pace this year?
- How can you evaluate priorities, timelines and scope so that you’re approaching what needs to be done in accordance with what you know about how you work best, while maintaining fuel in your tank?
- Considering big decisions or projects or places that feel paralyzed or stuck, what might be helpful to determine the best next step?
