1. Worrying and overthinking
According to study findings, an adult brain weighs about three pounds or about 2% of overall body weight. Brain cells consume 20 to 25 percent of the body’s total energy. That sounds like a lot.
Now, let’s imagine how much mental energy additionally it takes to overthink and worry. During worrying and overthinking, our brain generates many thoughts and scenarios that aren’t going toward anything productive. And it makes us exhausted.
Instead: Focus on the present
To learn how to be more conscious of your current state, you can explore the concept of mindfulness. It is defined as the ability to be fully present. It also translates into more efficiency and decreased stress.
The most popular mindfulness practice method is to focus on the present by noticing how your hands move, smells, and sounds around you. And it is the complete opposite of being overwhelmed by disturbing thoughts.
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2. Overworking
Nowadays, society tells us we always have to be productive, equating our self-worth with success. Due to this, many people neglect their mental health and signs of low energy for high performance at work and pleasing their management. This can lead to burnout. And the inability to do any work altogether, including day-to-day tasks and acts of self-care.
Instead: Be intentional about work-life balance
To accomplish a desired balance between work and private life, try to set boundaries around your resources and be realistic about what you can achieve each day.
If you work from home, consciously log off your computer at a specific time each day and generally clock out on time.
Try to do what you like during your work-free time and pursue hobbies. Or spend time with loved ones. You will definitely feel more energetic after, and your body will produce the feel-good hormones necessary to keep you going.
3. Multitasking
Have you ever checked Facebook in the morning, drinking coffee while checking notifications? Then again, drank more coffee and checked your work e-mail all at the same time? Switching between many activities drains your energy and may even cause harm to your brain.
You may relate to the fact that when you multitask, your attention is divided, making you less productive and more prone to mistakes. Scientists proved that a person could keep up to 7 tasks in mind and deal with even fewer at once.
Instead: Establish a clear daily routine and make lists
Creating a daily routine brings stability, structure, discipline, balance, and energy to your life. It’s helpful to remember that setting the proper routine takes time as you experiment and figure out what works best for you.
When you have a list of tasks, you can do your work step by step without being distracted. Furthermore, those lists will allow you to avoid keeping everything in your mind, saving you energy and freeing it up for other tasks.
As a good example: if you don’t have time to complete a task right now, try putting it in a task manager, notes, or on a piece of paper.
4. Sleeping too little and eating unhealthy
Having sufficient energy throughout the day requires a good sleep schedule. The average adult needs between 7 and 8 hours of sleep per night. However, many people get less than this. The result that can be expected is fatigue during the day and a compromised immune system.
Also, preparing nutritious meals can seem overwhelming when you’re feeling down. You may not even feel hungry anymore after skipping meals all day. Or seeking fast ways to tame your hanger. So you may start to eat unhealthy, like junk or frozen food, which is quick to prepare.
Instead: Practice good sleep hygiene and eat healthily
By implementing some changes to your sleep time routine, you can enjoy all the benefits of a good night’s sleep, such as reduced stress, improved memory, and increased energy throughout the day.
In addition to improving your physical and mental health with a good sleep routine, eating well is an excellent form of self-care.
5. Always checking social media
Online social media users are experiencing information overload due to instant access to vast information. Social media draws us to it because it triggers our reward system by giving us a feel-good dopamine rush. This results in a lot of time wasted on doom-scrolling.
Even though we cannot entirely give up on phones and social media nowadays, we can be more aware of our time and content quality consumption.
Instead: Adjust your relationship with social media
Rather than trying to fit your life into social media, you can design them to work around you and for you.
For example, try to put your phone away when you need to focus and turn off instant messengers and social network notifications. Or, you can track your time spent online and gradually reduce it.
Even if you’re still deciding to spend a lot of time scrolling your feed, you can also spend your time on social media efficiently. How? Choosing content that benefits your mental health improves your motivation and educates you in some way.
With the help of a therapist, you will be able to understand better why you feel the way you feel. And you will be equipped with the necessary tools to manage your emotions to lead a productive and fulfilling life.
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6. Bottling up emotions
Bottling up or suppressing emotions means purposely and consciously not acknowledging, accepting, and processing them.
People can suppress their emotions when they don’t have healthy coping mechanisms. So they push down their true feelings or totally deny them. Unfortunately, they won’t disappear by the fact of denying them, and holding those emotions requires a vast amount of our mental energy.
Instead: Improve emotional intelligence skills
Emotional intelligence is all about making emotions — both your own and other people’s — work in your favor rather than against you. A person with improved emotional intelligence skills has high emotional awareness to be able to monitor emotions and identify them.
With the help of a therapist, you will be able to understand better why you feel the way you feel, and you will be equipped with the necessary tools to manage your emotions to lead a productive and fulfilling life.
7. Being stuck in unhealthy relationship patterns
Do you find yourself constantly putting others first, pleasing them to the point where it affects your well-being? Or are you staying in codependent relationships and experiencing gaslighting because you can’t bear to be alone or scared to answer back?
Unhealthy patterns in building and maintaining relationships are draining your energy. They also have a negative impact on your mind and body.
This way, you may be just investing your energy in making these relationships work instead of learning to nurture the ones that bring you joy and happiness with those who support you.
Instead: Learn how to break unhealthy behavior patterns and adopt healthy ones
Developing healthy behaviors and acknowledging your role in this process are the key to having healthy relationships. You can start by setting your boundaries and enforcing them. Let the person know you don’t like to be treated that way.
Also, emotional maturity can help you identify and avoid unhealthy relationship behavior patterns. Early identification of psychological triggers with therapy can help you predict and avoid unhealthy relationships, which may drain your energy.
A therapist will also assist you in identifying unhealthy relationship patterns, like understanding why you’re stuck in those relationships and breaking this cycle.
8. Being overly too self-critical
Let’s be honest, everyone has experienced awkward situations in life, e.g., forgetting to show up for an important appointment, being late to a job interview, or not showing the level of empathy that we should have.
But if you beat yourself up instead of learning from your mistakes, you might get into a habit of using negative self-talk. Similar to overthinking, negative self-talk can make you stuck in your head. And this drains your energy.
Instead: Practice self-compassion
Make yourself a priority by being gentle and compassionate with yourself. Remember that sometimes bad things happen, but you can always choose how to respond.
Being self-compassionate is linked with better well-being. It can improve your mood and boost your life satisfaction and energy level.
