How-To: Protect Your Good Energy, Mama

It’s time for a refresher, a reminder, a “how-to” with easy tips to help you protect your good energy, Mama.

Our days are busy, sometimes overwhelming. We have an ongoing to-do list that is constantly filling itself. There are schedules and routines and extracurriculars. There is preparation and planning for every detail in the background of all conversations; you’re there, but you aren’t present. You feel pulled in too many directions. You’re always tired and bogged down, but you feel the pressure to get sh** done. Who’s with me? 

That’s an energy suck. That tired, overwhelmed, sinking feeling, that’s your good energy being drained little by little. With everything going on in our world, along with raising our families and building careers, it is important to identify who, or what, is taking your good energy. 

Key things to ask yourself when assessing:

• Is this something I want to do?
• Is this a need-to-do?
• Does this take away from time with my family?
• Will this help me succeed in (fill in the blank)?
• Does my gut tell me this is going to go well or the opposite?
• Will I feel frustrated or tired or regretful after this?

The list could go on … 

Listen to what your intuition, or the intuition of your child, is telling you. They are rarely wrong. 

It might take some practice to get your identifiers nailed down, but you will feel so much lighter after you find you’re in control of what you devote your limited time to. I have had to practice this technique with daily tasks, interactions with people who don’t bring any positives to my life, as well as choosing who to work with on side projects, and inevitably which battles to pick with my pre-preteen daughter. Sometimes the people closest to you often give or take the most energy.

If you start to feel your energy draining, just ask yourself a few of the questions above and take a deep breath. If you’re unsure, sit in the moment and wait. The stressor will make itself known, and then you can decide if it is worth your time. 

Protect your good energy, Mama. You are going to need it to raise those little ones. You are going to need that good energy to invest in the things that bring you joy. We have so little time to begin with, so make yours count.