I reached the point where I feel emotionally, mentally and physically drained.
It is not that only bad things are happening, not at all, a lot of good stuff is going on but the exhaustion makes it difficult to enjoy and to see them at times. My mind seems to be in a constant overflow, I constantly seem to do something. I am trying to channel all the good, tough and negative thoughts. Learning to distance myself from the negative and take energy and power from the positive. But mentally I seem to have reached an overkill with all that.
Emotionally I find myself on a very short leash, am easily irritated and do not want to do anything once the kids are asleep, but to be left alone. At times, I have to force myself to enjoy when I am out doing fun stuff. That is not me and the feeling is not a nice one and gets me frustrated – and I then I find myself going even deeper into the mental exhaustion, trying to find a way out.
As well physically I feel tired. l am out and about everyday but not really doing enough for myself. And I know that one part of getting more stable and stronger mentally and emotionally is to pick up my physical activities again. I use my jogging to sort my thoughts, get ideas and feel at ease. And I do not jog regularly these days/weeks, and the impact is there. Being sleep deprived surely does not help the mix I am already in!
But today, I got tired of it all – tired of being tired! And feel like this statement I found today:
I am surely not alone when I say that I tend to use my ‘battery’ pretty much to the end and then need to urgently recharge it. I am usually aware of when I reached the lower percentage of my battery. But even if I am aware of it, I don’t step in and I let it go too low! I need to find a way to step in earlier to keep it on a steady level! This constant “go-go-go” in all areas is not good for anybody, there will come a time when we all crack and we do not want that, the time to recharge the battery will take even longer!
While I am tired today, I am not yet on my lowest and I stepped in just in time, I hope. I took the day slow, ensured my toddler takes his nap time at home and used that time for me – to simply be. No washes, dishes, dinner preparation, studies or anything. Just me, tea and a book. I even took the sun loungers out – using lovely sunny weather to speed up the charging!
But I need to find a way of not feeling guilty of doing that regularly, to keep my battery loaded on a healthy level and not reaching close to 0%! Today was a good start, I feel more charged than this morning and ready to tackle the afternoon – I am actually writing this while sitting on the balcony, my little only playing around in the sun. Writing about my exhaustion, taking time to notice ways how I can recharge again, feeling the sun, taking a time out; all this makes me finally smile today – a free smile, not a forced one!
But I have to keep doing this, my battery is not properly loaded yet, it is still charging. After all our batteries are always in use and need a constant charging! So tomorrow I need to do the same, the day after and thereafter and and and.
We owe it to ourselves to keep our own battery loaded and
not wait until it turns low or even empty!
Be aware of how your mental, emotional and physical state are all connected and how you feel when one or more reach an unbalance. Make sure they are all treated well and charged! Feeling energised is so much nicer than exhausted, wouldn’t you agree?
For me, this means after my today’s mental charging session, I will put my running shoes on this weekend, no matter what! I know it will charge me physically and mentally, and usually helps to balance my emotions, too! And day by day I will learn to remind myself that I don’t have to feel guilty to take time to recharge myself in all three areas!
What do you do to recharge yourself mentally, emotionally and physically? Please feel free to share your best tricks!
Have a lovely, energised day,
AK