Saving Emotional Energy or When the emotional balloon didn't go pop!
When people are in emotional turmoil,
When their emotional energy is drained and they don’t feel up to facing life’s challenges, they often ask me, "How did all this start, and why didn’t I see it coming?"
For some, the loss of emotional energy is due to a significant event, such as a life-changing experience, including a car accident, illness, or operation. Still, for many, the feelings of emotional exhaustion are simply the accumulation of various thoughts or occurrences that cause the emotions they experience in that moment. To explain this, I use some simple imagery.
Imagine a balloon blown up to its maximum, tied off with a knot to prevent the air from escaping, and all the air inside represents your emotional energy. That energy is vital to your well-being, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Emotional Energy
Now, if you are someone who has had a sudden major life-changing event or illness, whatever it may have been, for the benefit of our imaginary balloon, this is similar to someone coming along and popping your emotional energy balloon with a big (the event) pin.
In a brief moment, the balloon has gone, and so has your emotional energy. You feel the effects immediately, but at least you can see and understand what has happened, which goes some way to helping you understand why your emotional energy is drained to the point of almost non-existence.
For many people, however, it is a much different story.
In your case, it may have been an accumulation of many smaller (yet just as draining) things happening over many months or even years, which has affected you.
You may ask why you didn’t notice it, and the answer is that it happened so slowly and gradually that you didn’t have much of a chance to notice it.
Life got in the way of noticing.
You may have been aware that things were happening, and you brushed them to one side, telling yourself it was nothing and carrying on. But all those little 'nothings' add up; they matter, and the price for ignoring them will be paid.
In this situation, imagine the same balloon representing your emotional energy and the same (events) pin. Still, this time imagine the balloon being stabbed just below the knot, in the slightly flabby bit, and you can stab that balloon many, many, times and the balloon won’t go off with a bang, as it did in the first example.
However, it will gradually and steadily deflate until it’s too late, and before you know it, your energy is gone, you feel drained and low, and have no idea how to get it back. Things seem hopeless.
The first thing is to recognise that you have learned a lesson. You didn't listen to your body, and you ignored the subconscious whispering, ' Please slow down. ' The whispers became a shout, then a scream, and then it acted!
It stopped you because you were in danger of doing yourself permanent harm - on a brighter note, however, the mind and body worked together to stop you, as they should.
When you reach this stage, you need to rebuild your energy, but it will take time. (A note of caution here: If you continue to ignore the drop in energy, and decide to push through it and keep going, you risk significant setbacks, mentally and/or physically, very shortly thereafter.) However, if you approach things in the correct order, you will likely get back on track.
Take time for yourself.
Rest when you feel you need to. No more 'just one last thing' type of thinking. Whatever it was you were intending to do, it can wait until tomorrow.
There is nothing worth the price of your physical and/or emotional health. No job, no relationship, nothing!
I have worked for more than 39 years helping people recover from not listening to their inner voice. The majority returned to mainstream life after facing their life lesson. Some didn't; the price they paid was too high to return to full recovery. Mind and body stopped them, permanently, from the life they had; they had to adapt to a new life with new circumstances and limitations.
The bottom line is, we need to look after ourselves. We take responsibility for what we do and for what we choose not to do.
The reality is that we have no one to blame but ourselves if we constantly ignore the warning signs. On that note, we are all human; we all want the best for ourselves and those we love, so we push ourselves harder and faster to keep up. I know, I have been there, and I too had to learn how to recover. It was a difficult time, but the same determination that had pushed me too far was the same determination that helped me through recovery and onto better things.
I wish you well
Michael
If the above seems familiar and you need some help to build yourself up again, then consider looking at my Burnout program, confidence and self-esteem support program, or if stress is still dragging you down, take a look at the Stress Audio Program 80
Click here to see my most popular home-use programs