Someone recently asked me how to avoid depletion.
We had talked about nature’s cycles, the seasons and the moon cycle, and about making sure to replenish their energy more often throughout the year (not wait till Christmas or another two-week holiday, for example).
The way I see it, we can’t avoid depletion for ever. There will inevitably be some times in your life when you will feel depleted. It’s impossible to stay in top form 100% of the time, whether that’s physically, emotionally or spiritually.
Also, especially us women, we are more prone to depletion at some points in our cycle – and if we are perimenopausal, we are more prone to it, at some point in the day even, so even more so in a week or month (or however long your cycle is by then).
Nonetheless, there are many ways we can avoid depletion to the point of burnout, and even better, stay ‘topped up’ with enough energy most of the time.
A few weeks ago, I read about someone who starts her day by doing things that replenish her, rather than deplete her, usually for around two hours.
Not everyone has this luxury, but for sure, we could all start the day by filling our cups even higher than a good night’s sleep might have done (let alone a bad one), by spending just 5 or 10 minutes doing something that we love, that replenishes us, that makes us feel whole and maybe even brim with energy and balance (emotional, physical and spiritual), so that by the end of the day we still have plenty left.
So this is very personal – what replenishes you?
For me, it’s:
- reading
- meditating
- just being on my sofa or bed, lying down, doing absolutely nothing
- doing yoga
- going for a walk, especially in the sun
- having a shower
- swimming in the lake if it’s sunny (and warm, even better!)
- stroking my cat
- listening to a podcast, in particular about writing
- a hug with my child or husband
Something else you could ‘play with’ is the quantity of ‘spoons’ you start the day with, out of 10. Is it 10, or is it perhaps just 6? Can you bring it to 7 or 8, or even 10? This doesn’t have to be about the length of time you spend replenishing – it can just be about the quality of what you do.
Maybe you’ll like some of my suggestions and you haven’t tried them, so perhaps you would like to give them a go. Maybe you have many more of your own. I’d love to hear what your go-tos are 😊