Three steps to boost your emotional energy levels

Let's start with a quote: “Just as physical energy comes from diet, exercise and rest, emotional energy comes from the ways you take care of yourself emotionally – living in a way that makes you feel inspired, hopeful, self-confident, playful, loving and in touch with what you care about most” - Mira Kirshenbaum, American therapist, speaker, and author.

I love this quote because it so succinctly articulates for me the immense importance of emotional energy.

When asked about our energy levels, many of us immediately think about physical energy. There are, in fact, four types of energy: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, all of which contribute towards our overall well-being. Each of us is unique, so low levels of energy in one or more of these types will impact us differently, depending upon what values we have associated with them, and the rules we have that allow us to feel we have enough of each type of energy. 

This article focuses exclusively on emotional energy, the impact low emotional energy can have on our lives and the three steps you can take to increase your emotional energy  

Emotional energy is how we feel about what is going on in our lives. Emotional energy fuels feelings, such as excitement and desire, and contributes to your state of being.

Our well-being is directly impacted by how we feel, because how we feel about things affects our interest, motivation, and happiness levels. The limbic brain, which is our emotional brain, is connected to every other area of our brain, so feeling emotionally drained will affect out cognitive abilities as well. Being able to identify what’s draining our energy and create action to boost energy levels is therefore vital to our overall well-being. The following three steps share an approach you can use. 

1. Reflection

The first step is to identify what is draining your emotional energy levels by exploring what you are doing, thinking, and feeling that is impacting your energy.

Sitting quietly somewhere, so you can reflect, make a list of the main ones and rate them on a scale of 0 – 10 in terms of to what extent they are having an impact.

Once you have your list, take the one which is impacting you the most first and consider how it is impacting you, as well as how it is impacting others. This helps you to define the effect this is having on your day-to-day life, how it is making you feel, and how it is driving your behaviours?

Consider what you want instead; what outcome do you want for you and others, and what is preventing you from achieving that outcome now?

2. Define the options

The second step is to define a range of options for making changes to achieve the outcomes. Write down all the ones that come into your mind, even if they feel impossible, or silly. Then, taking each option, think about what would happen if you did this, and what impact it would have on your energy levels. 

You can follow the same approach for the other options you have identified until you feel comfortable you have one or more that will be achievable and have the desired outcome.

3. Take action  

The third step, which is an essential one, is to take action. Break down the chosen options into a set of actionable tasks, considering what you will do, when you will do it, who else you may need to involve, and how you will measure the effect it has had on your emotional energy.

It’s essential to check in after a few days; How differently do you feel? How have your behaviours changed, and what is the overall impact from the changes you have made?

For some, just making changes in one specific area can be sufficient, whilst for others it may be necessary to go back to the first step and work through some of the other areas identified as being a drain on their emotional energy.

Everyone is different and it may be that you need some additional support to either work through these steps, or to address deeper root causes in order to think, feel, and behave in more empowering ways and positively impact your emotional energy. Coaching can be an excellent way of getting this support. 

Remember to take care of yourself emotionally as well as physically; it will have a significant impact on your life.

Take care.