How to Re-Build your Energy

Have you been feeling unmotivated or Energy-Less at the moment?

Until very recently, I was feeling exhausted all the time and sensing a real pull to slow down, sleep more and rest. However when I did rest, I found a big internal battle of guilt for doing so. There seems to be a societal pressure to keep busy and a belief that success only comes to people who push through tiredness and keep DOING all the time. Intuitively I knew that belief was wrong and unhealthy but I couldn’t help but feel that internal pressure anyway.

I did lots of reading and worked with my wonderful somatic coach Naomi (details) and started learning that we are the only creatures that refuse to rest when the body is tired. That in fact it is much healthier to surrender into rest rather than supressing it and once you rest, a natural surge of energy will emerge. There is usually a reason that the body wants you to slow down but we’re not taught to listen to that need and instead get celebrated when we ignore it. So I decided to explore what my body was truly calling for and resting even though the guilty feeling remained internally. I chose feel the guilt and rest anyway.

I was hoping that it would take just a couple of days and my body would feel totally replenished of energy and I could get back to the busyness of my life. But, I still felt tired. I fought the urge to get busy again and allowed more rest (not completely switching off from life but just saying no to the things that weren’t essential for me to do). I wanted to experiment to see if this new belief of resting until the energy naturally returns rather than pushing through, truly worked. So I kept surrendering into this new slower pace. Using movement practices like yoga instead of working out. Sleeping more, meditating and just stopping so much doing and allowing myself to just be. Sure enough a few weeks later, I suddenly begun to get this new serge of energy that felt natural and not forced. I felt my creativity awakening again and the desire to move my body and an excitement for busyness.

During my quietness, I had read about how in Chinese traditions they believe the body works in cycles like the seasons. We need the winter rest, the autumnal replenishment and the spring blossom, to allow us to fully bloom into summer. Through my experiment, this beautiful concept started resonating as true. It was as if my body had been trying to maintain its summer without any time to rest through the winter.

So if you’re struggling to find motivation and energy, it might also mean that your body is asking you to slow down, to sink into some quietness without resistance. When we resist the rest the body needs, we are using even more energy supplies that the body already doesn’t have and this can lead to burn out. So allow your body to travel through it’s natural seasons:

REST, RECOVER, REPLISH, RE-ENERGISE – LET YOUR ENERGYRISE