The Exhaustion Funnel
How many of us get caught in the trap of taking on so much, that we find we have no time for the things we once enjoyed, like our hobbies, socialising, having a long bath, an overdue chat with a friend on the phone…?
Imagine the shape of a funnel – it starts off wide at the top and gets narrower towards the bottom.
Imagine that the circle at the top of the funnel represents how things are when we are living life to the full and we have a balanced life.
However, when things get busier, many of us tend to give up to focus on what seems ‘important’.
If you have too much on your ‘to-do’ list, a heavy workload, or too much on your plate for whatever reason, you end up giving things that you enjoy because you end up exhausted.
It is the things we enjoy, the things that nourish us, that we give up and we start to forget that these are things that are good for your soul and are very important for our well-being.
Without the rest bite fitted into your life, you can become less energised, creative and efficient. You can find yourself accomplishing less and taking more time to do them.
What sort of symptoms might you experience?
- You might become bad tempered or irritable
- You are likely to become exhausted easily
- You may not want to see people, so your social life dips
- You are likely to give up exercise
- You may not want to deal with normal things, such as paying the bills, returning calls, or opening the mail
- Your eating habits may change
- Your sleep may become affected
Do any of these symptoms sound familiar to you?
All Work and No Play!
When we forget to nourish ourselves because of the pressure we are under, we become even more exhausted.
I am a fan of writing things down, so I would like you to do a quick test and on a piece of paper, or in a journal write 2 headings on a page with ‘Nourish‘ on one side and ‘Depleting‘ on the other, with a line down the middle. Run through the activities you do during a typical day from the time you get up in the morning and list around 10-15 activities that either nourish or deplete you.
When you have done this ask yourself the following:
- Why do the activities nourish you, why does it lift your mood, energise you, make you feel calm and centred?
- Why do the activities deplete you, drag you down, drain away your energy, lower your mood?
Understanding why we need to nourish ourselves
Understanding why it is important to have nourishing activities in our lives everyday is important and if you don’t have many, it is important to devote time and more effort to them. Start to rebalance your life. Perhaps get family and friends involved. If you are the one at home who always does everything, then maybe it’s time for some changes, maybe for the kids to earn their pocket money?
It’s not selfish to sometimes put yourself first, even if this is completely out of context for you. If you lead a frantic, busy life, every 3 days, make a diary note to treat yourself. It doesn’t have to be anything lavish. It could be your favourite chocolate bar. You could have some fun, by writing out a shortlist and mindfully eat it, by taking your time and savouring every moment of it.
