Have you ever had a period in your life when you felt drained, both mentally and physically?

Most of us could identify with this in some capacity, especially when it starts to feel like hard work to do simple tasks each day.

I have first-hand experience of feeling highly drained in every area of my life and it impacted me in so many ways.

I could only describe it as feeling constantly tired and overwhelmed, it felt like my sparkle was fading.

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It was during one of my sessions with my coach, Suzanne (I’m a firm believer that coaches need to be coached!), that she encouraged me to take a step back and logically review what it was in my world that was draining me.

We worked through 3 key categories:

1. Who are the people that are currently draining my energy?
2. Which tasks at work do I find drain my energy?
3. Which tasks in my personal life drain my energy?

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If I’m honest, this was an unexpectedly easy task for me to complete, although I did feel guilty about some of my answers!  Once I had identified these energy drainers, we worked through them to understand if any of these tasks or people could be removed from my life. Unfortunately, about 99% of them couldn’t, and this made me feel deflated and even lower in energy.

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But that was just the first part of the exercise. Suzanne then had me answer the following;

1. Who in your life gives you energy and lifts you up when you spend time with them?
2. Which tasks at work make your heart sing?
3. Which activities/hobbies outside of work make you feel happy?

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This was also surprisingly easy to answer; however, I definitely took a little more time to feel certain about my answers. What became apparent was that I wasn’t engaging with any of the people or activities on my second list.

There will always be tasks and people in your world that will drain your energy and resources, there’s no getting away from that, but it’s what we do to counteract that which is what makes a difference. Once we are aware of how we manage our energy levels, we can take the responsibility to manage them, and ensure that we balance the energy draining factors in our lives with the things that bring us joy and elevate our energy.

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One of the things I recognised really relaxed me and gave me some energy back was spending time with animals. There’s something very calming and unconditional about time spent with animals. So, I set myself a challenge to ensure that I made time for the activities that lifted my soul.

I’ve done Goga (Goat Yoga), hiked up Runyon Canyon in LA with rescue dogs and, most recently, spent the morning at Crumbs & Whiskers on Melrose where you can have coffee surrounded by extremely playful kittens.

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My main learn is to ensure that I do things frequently that counteract any energy draining activities, even when I’m not aware of feeling tired or exhausted.

As humans we have a tendency to expect our brains to be able to cope with challenging times without giving it the training in advance. Actively making a choice to complete energy lifting tasks and spend time with people who make your soul happy is vital for your wellbeing and energy levels.

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Take some time to answer those same questions and reflect on how much time you dedicate to doing things that enhance your energy. If you’re already doing it, that’s amazing, if you’re not then plan to start doing these things, otherwise you risk burning out and losing your sparkle.

Love, Nicole.