There are numerous tips and strategies you can use to generate and maintain your energy. You probably have several up your sleeve. I sure do.
As I’ve pondered why some people are energetic and others aren’t, one thing I’ve come to realize is that part of being an energetic person is having an energy attitude: The mindset of wanting to live life with vigor, work productively, and stay mentally alert. Sure, you can eat “properly”, exercise, and sleep “enough”; is that enough?
No. It takes more than proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep to have an energy-filled day. It took me awhile to figure out what the missing ingredient was in the recipe for having abundant energy.
One thing I realized was that secret ingredient isn’t the reliance on energy drinks. Maybe you have your favorite. Red Bull, Monster, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, green and black tea, cocoa, and coffee are some of the ones I see used. I think those are bandages for the problem, not the solution. They sure aren’t a secret ingredient! And they come with warning labels, not just the usual requisite suggestions to see your doctor before starting a new habit — as you get with exercise and supplements.
Energy drinks — the beverages marketed that way, especially — have been associated with, according to Mayo Clinic, nervousness, irritability, insomnia, rapid heartbeat, and increased blood pressure. Other reported health concerns include cardiac arrest, anxiety, headaches, vomiting, allergic reactions, type 2 diabetes, and jitters. Those aren’t symptoms of increased energy! Those are results of chemicals — drugs — not interacting with your body well. That’s not the secret ingredient I’m looking for.
The secret ingredient to generating and maintaining your energy throughout the day has lasting power; more than an hour or five, as energy drinks provide. The secret ingredient doesn’t cause a rebound effect — spiking and then crashing — as sugar and highly processed carbohydrates are want to do.
The secret ingredient is your attitude about your personal energy. If you have an energy attitude you have a mental state that says I deserve to feel energetic. I can create energy to buoy me when it’s flagging. With that attitude you know “Energy is mine!” through the day.
If you are lacking an energetic disposition, your arsenal of tricks probably goes unused much of the time. You live your life wondering how you can get more done and why your memory is slipping — you’re too young, after all, to be a slug! Chances are that you not only don’t utilize the common tips of an energetic life, you probably abuse those options.
Further, you justify your choices in a variety of ways. It is your right to live as you want. Yet, staying up late at night, eating and drinking as you see fit, and avoiding exercise are all habits that can lead to low energy levels.
When you have an energy attitude, you use your arsenal of tricks to generate energy from morning to night. You act, think, and speak with energy. And, with abundant energy you live a vibrant, productive, alert life.
How is your energy attitude?