Happy new year to you!
For the last ten years my most-quickly-broken resolution has been to spend less time on social media. But I have recently come to appreciate that, while I probably do spend too much time on Instagram and Twitter, reading people’s posts gives me important insight into and information about the zeitgeist (the general mood).
If it weren’t for my social media feeds I wouldn’t know the extent of the joy people felt at being able to celebrate the holidays ‘normally’ at last. I wouldn’t have felt part of the parties and events that people posted about, or been able to add breath-taking destinations to my travel list.
And I also wouldn’t have seen just how tired so many people are so early on in the year.
Because I am a Burnout Prevention and Recovery Coach, I worry that I see exhaustion where it may not exist. I often remind myself of the saying, “when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail” to keep myself from over-identifying burnout. But the information I am getting from the people on my timelines is that there really are a lot of nails out there: levels of overwhelm and fatigue are (still) alarming.
Most of us have had at least a few days and some have had a few weeks of holiday, yet my timeline is awash with people describing their lack of energy and enthusiasm – and their anxiety about feeling so tired and uninspired before the first working week of the year has passed.
Maybe it’s because we need a holiday from our holiday, or maybe it’s because we were running on fumes for the most part of last year and whatever time off we had wasn’t enough to refill our tanks.
Whatever the cause of our weariness, we need to take seriously the need to manage our time and energy so that we are able to make it through the year – not just without getting sick and tired through the course of 2023, but with left-over enthusiasm for the end of year holidays.
Which is the reason I am replacing my ridiculously unattainable and equally unhelpful resolution with a much more effective one: ensuring that I keep my energy levels topped up hourly, daily, weekly and monthly:
• Every hour I will drink water, focus on breathing, and move.
• Every day I will make sure I get enough sleep and rest, eat healthy food, and go outside.
• Every week I commit to seeing friends, spending time in nature, getting creative.
• Every month I aim to go somewhere beautiful, eat at least one meal that I didn’t have to think about making, and spend a day in bed/on the couch with a trashy novel.
I am hoping these regular top-ups will see me through the year with plenty of vim and vigour.
I’d love to hear how you are going to keep your energy levels replenished.
If you need some support in setting yourself up for a successful year, I have two programmes on offer next month (see below).
I hope you have a good start to the year,
Judy
