The Energy Is Hiding in What You Stop Doing

You know the feeling. Your list is long, your mind is louder, and even rest feels like something you have to schedule and then fail at. I know the idea of a weekend away is what you need to recharge, yet it’s probably not on your horizon.  Relief doesn’t need a weekend. It needs a few small moves, most of which involve doing less, not more.

1. Get it out of your head.
Overwhelm thrives on things you’re trying to remember. Take five minutes and write down everything pulling at you: the email, the appointment, the gift, the conversation you’re avoiding. You don’t have to do anything with the list yet. Just seeing it on paper often shrinks it to its real size. I emphasize this with my clients, putting these things on paper – using a pen or pencil allows your brain to observe the thoughts rather than experiencing them – providing the space needed to reduce the overwhelming feelings.

2. Find the one thing that’s been nagging longest.
Look at that list and circle the item that has been hovering for weeks. Then do the smallest possible piece of it. Not the whole thing, just the next step. Closing one old loop frees up more energy than starting three new projects. This is what I call taking baby or turtle steps, tiny, almost imperceptible steps to move a task forward.

3. Give yourself permission to drop something.
Ask: what on this list could I let go of, delay, or do at “good enough”? Every season of life asks us to put something down. Choosing what that is, on purpose, feels very different from letting it slip and feeling guilty. The power here is in the choosing part, and because it’s your choice, the feeling will most definitely produce energy for you.

4. Take a two-minute pause, not a two-hour one.
Step outside. Look at something far away. Breathe out longer than you breathe in. Micro-breaks scattered through your day do more than one rest you never quite get to. You can do this on your walk into the office, in breaks between meetings, or even in a heated discussion when you need a time out.  This shifts your body from tension to one of relaxation and recovery.

5. Notice what fills you up, even a little.
A song, a phone call with a friend, ten minutes with a book. Keep a short list of these. When you’re running on empty, you won’t have the energy to invent ideas, so make them easy to reach for.  I’ve got a few favorite play lists that lift me every time I hear them.  One is full of energizing music, one is soothing and another is just a lot of fun – where the lyrics always make me laugh.

6. Say one honest “no” this week.
You’ve heard me and so many others say this, NO is a one word sentence.  Not a dramatic one. A small, kind, clear no to something that drains you. Each one teaches you that your time matters.

You don’t need to do all six. Pick one today. Small moves, done consistently, are how we make room for the life we actually want, and the energy to go after it.