Beyond the Pain

I’ve often said that it’s unfair that kids have so much more energy than we do. After all they piss it away on playing… and playing.

Hmm! Wait a minute.

What would I do with more energy?

Well, I can tell you that my bad, bad, bad habit has been to engage in the W word — WORK! Not the play, relax, restore words.

Maybe the reason kids have so much energy is that they are doing what they love. Of course, even they run out of steam eventually and collapse.

But, what do we do? We keep on plugging. And, plugging. Get exhausted. Get sick. And, can’t sleep the golden restorative sleep of a child.

We need to learn how to Manage Our Energy. And, a great place to learn that is from my colleague Diana Lindstrom who had taken her personal knowledge and crafted a pragmatic and useful workbook called, appropriately, Managing Your Energy

It’s helped me learn to be better at taking care of myself. Take a look.

Just got off the phone with a friend/colleague.

Like me she has a tendency to be over-responsible. A common trait I’ve observed
in Helpers and folks with chronic illnesses. I suffer from Fibromyalgia and her
from Migraines.

She had called to ask for advice with a ‘problem’ client. As we talked it
through it became apparent she was looking at solutions that would make the
problem bigger, more complex.

I said, "But, that’s not your problem. Is it?"

She agreed that in fact she was being over responsible.

So, if you have a tendency to be over responsible, to take on others’ problems,
and then add this little technique to your self-care kit bag: ASK yourself,
“Whose problem is it?"

Often you’ll find its not yours, its theirs.

Leave it with them. Don’t take it on and overburden yourself.