Energy Sucks

Some days suck. When they suck days in a row your energy really sags.

Is that your experience?

My energy level tends to run high. Regardless of how much is on my plate, what’s going on around me, or how long I’ve been up and active I tend to stay vibrant and upbeat — energetic even.

Recently I was reminded what it feels like to be low energy. I didn’t like it one bit! I took care of it and realized that sharing this with you might help you when you have those suck-energy days.

The suck-energy-days prelude was with our fabulous 10-day vacation in Hawaii staying with friends on the Big Island in their retirement nest. We swam in tidal pools, snorkeled in ocean-side hot springs, walked sandy and non-sandy beaches, and peered into the steaming Kilauea caldera.

Intermixed with vacationing and doing tourist things we worked. Entrepreneurs have deadlines, you know! 😉 Additionally, I was taking a class that had a webinar and homework “due” while I was there, so I did spend a bit of time at my computer. Travel being what it is, we did come home tired and behind in our work.

Being behind and tired was expected, and planned for. I set my priorities, used my Time Management Tool (TMT) to keep me on track, and plugged along one step at a time to get out from under the piles of work and emails. Cool beans.

Note to self: when plugging along through a pile of work, be sure to tend to your energizing techniques and behaviors.

Long days and short nights do add up to sap your energy.

We got home Wednesday night. I plugged away and attended meetings from then through the weekend. Sunday night the EMS pager went off, but I put my Deputy Coroner hat on (instead of my EMS hat) and headed out the door.

Since the death seemed suspicious, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was called in. So, we — the Coroner, Sheriff Deputy, Police Officer, and me — waited for CBI officers to show up. We gabbed, reassured surrounding residents, and discussed business — and stayed as warm as we could in the stiff, spring breeze. After the first CBI officer showed up and we had given him the grand tour of the scene, we left.

Monday morning I returned to the scene to get the lowdown on what CBI investigators found and then proceeded to do next-of-kin notifications with the Coroner. Then, back to life — getting my windshield replaced, doing homework, and plugging along through the piles of work and emails.

As my windshield was removed there was another EMS page.

If I’d been home I would have donned my Deputy Coroner hat again. But I was 40 minutes away, and without a windshield! Oh well, back to homework and waiting for my car.

There was lots on my plate, many demands on my time, and energy was flagging a bit. Then an EMS friend called. I learned who had died in that last call. My mind went blank. My energy started dipping more. It was the police officer I’d spent much of Sunday night with at the first death scene investigation, a man I’d interacted with and learned from on several coroner calls.

It’s interesting the games your mind plays with you. “He couldn’t be dead, you were just with him 15 hours ago.” “Is there more than one guy with that name in town?” “Did you hear that name correctly?” Damn it!

My EMS friend asked me to put my Advocate Hat on and start calling the medics who’d been on the call to support them and give them someone to talk to. I did. They did. In some ways that role helped lift my energy.

It’s hard losing “one of your own.”

Tuesday night, after 9 hours on business calls and webinars — and a 20 minute nap — Randy and I went to an EMS meeting where we talked about the call, the death, plans for his memorial service and procession, and us. We ate, drank (non-alcoholic things since some of them were on duty), laughed, and cried. In a perverse way it’s kind of comforting to learn that strong people who you didn’t think ever cried can and do cry sometimes. And they did. Some for more than 24 hours.

I’ll repeat: it’s hard losing “one of your own.”

Hearing others’ stories about feeling tired, sad, and wrung out hit home. That described how I was feeling. Me?! Energetic me? Yep.

Actions I took to turn around some of that sapped energy were to change my attitude, do my energizing techniques, and be gentle with myself. Then I cleared the decks, put my head down, and got to work on my most pressing work. The combination of things I did to lift my energy and getting to work helped me. And continues to help me.

Now, you may not be an EMT or deputy coroner, but I’m confident stuff happens in your life that drags your energy into the gutter. Maybe you react to stress and a demanding life by losing energy. Or, you aren’t sleeping well, dragging your energy down. Maybe there are unusual circumstances in your life that suck the energy right out of you. You can change things so energy doesn’t fail you.

Feel free to use the energizing techniques I used this week to boost your energy:
– meditate
– nap
– get outside, even briefly, and breathe in the fresh air deeply
– decide to have more energy and imagine it being stronger and higher
– be gentle with yourself
– accept the “sucky thing” so you can move on
– connect with people who love you and who you can talk to
– sleep well

Sometimes you can’t help but succumb to the Energy Sucks. Given the right tools, you can fight it and get your energy back. Sometimes even high-energy people get whacked — but by knowing what to do, it won’t affect you for long.

If you’ve been low-energy for a long time, send up a flare; you need some help.