Sometimes one just doesn’t have the energy to do what needs done. How do you manage it?
(prompted by the thread about repetitive topics)
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I was once in a class being taught by an MD. I mentioned that I liked chocolate covered espresso beans. He told us a story about a classmate who brought a five pound bag of them to study for finals. The classmate ended in the Emergency Room for a caffeine overdose.
If I am sleepy, I take a nap. Thirty minutes to an hour will do.
If I am low energy or unmotivated I just power through with iced mint mate (coffee makes me sleepy) and spite.
It really depends, I try to listen to my body and think of whether I’ve had enough water and food and sleep, then fixing the issue accordingly by either hydrating, eating, or taking a short nap (or doing yoga nidra).
If none of those are the issue or if the nap is not possible, I will try some caffeine (coffee in the morning, cacao in the afternoon).
And if I have a chance, I will listen to some brainwave music that stimulates beta waves in the brain for concentration.
Finally, meditation helps me. It can be a nice pick-me-up and an opportunity to recalibrate and reset.
Eat
if it’s a task I have to do, I literally just make myself physically take the first step no matter how much I don’t want to, because once I’m in media res, inertia kicks in.
I’ve had a shitty time most of my life, my mantra is Back Straight, Chin Up, Eyes Open, and Keep Walking.
Tomorrow’s another day. Sleep is the best ‘reset button’.
Also, re the keep walking thing, it can be a lot easier to target nearby distance markers at a regular pace than to only think about the far away finish line.
Cold showers can help with that
I have a shower as warm as I can to open all my pores and clean them out.
Then I slam the water all the way to the coldest possible and force myself to stay under it for two minutes.
That’s a huge wake-up call.
I read about that trick years ago. It was in an essay by Ian Fleming. He wrote ‘…as hot as you can stand it for as long as you can stand it, followed by as cold as you can take it for as long as you can take it.’
I learned it from ancient Orkney technology called “sauna”. 😉
TIL people start the day with a sauna. We always use it as the end of the workout.
When I was living in Japan and using public baths cycling between hot and cold baths a couple of times this way was my favorite thing.
Appearantly it basically causes blood to do some neat stuff by dilating and constricting blood vessels to move blood to the core or the extremities.
All I knew is if you cycle about three or four times and drink one beer it’s the cheapest drunk you will ever be.
What it does is trigger your parasympathetic nervous system (or maybe the sympathetic, I always lose track of which does what). And yes, that makes blood vessels constrict and dilate and I just find that it enervates me and makes me feel really good.
I’ll try taking a shot after such a shower and report back. 🤣
“If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put U and I together.”
Oh you meant stimulants.
My favorite pick-me-up is having a crepe in the morning. Taking strolls may help too if that counts.
That’s unironically a good line
I go for a run, after that I feel so much better. But it’s not easy to get the run done some days
And if you can’t do that at least walk a little.
“How do you manage it?”
I don’t.I remember: “It’s better to do something than live with the fear of it”. Then I get on with it.
I find that slowing down and just meandering through the things I have to do more slowly and comfortably, actually helps when I feel burned out. Maybe with some music. Feelings of urgency/tension in my body actually sap my energy way too quickly, before I can even get started. So I focus on managing stress preemptively.
This is not applicable to everyone or every situation but it made a big difference for me.
