Following the energy
Sometimes it’s good surfing, and sometimes it’s not. (Image by Dimitris Vetsikas)
For some reason — maybe hormones, maybe the weather, maybe the moon phase — I am operating with extra energy this week.
Each day, I’m waking up early and getting right to work. Little tasks I’ve been putting off are getting done with no fuss. Big projects are moving forward.
I could keep the same schedule as always, but I’m leaning into it. I’m well aware that this sense of flow may not last, so I’m stepping up my hours and following the energy.
I will rest when I need to rest — which apparently is not right now.
I’m not going to rest for the sake of resting. It causes me as much stress to hold myself back from activity when I’m energized as it does to try to do things when I’m in need of rest. Allowing myself to work when I want to, even if it’s a weird time, goes right along with resting when I want to.
A few weeks ago, due to hormones and illness, I crawled back into bed at 9 AM on a weekday. Being upright was not on the menu. Now I’m popping awake at 5 AM. Every day is different.
Of course, most of us have that traditional nine-to-five schedule in the back of the mind even when our lives don’t require it. I have found that breaking out of that has been one of my biggest mindset challenges as a business owner, and I’ve never even worked a nine-to-five job.
The truth is, I love working on the weekend when it’s quiet and I have no meetings. Fridays, I take most of the day off, and Wednesday is usually my day to get caught up on housework. I try not to feel guilty or weird about this, but sometimes I still do.
In addition to following the energy over the course of a week, I’m also learning to follow the energy within a given day. For me, that often means prioritizing creative work and business development activities and scheduling them for the morning. It is a strange thing to spend a half hour editing a TikTok video at 9 AM on a Tuesday and call it work, but I guess this is my life now.
While not all of us have as much latitude to design their schedules (I certainly didn’t when I was showing up at The Little Middle School every day last semester), there are still ways to adapt to your energy patterns even within tighter constraints.
A lot of it comes down to expectations. If I expect to feel about the same all the time, I’m going to be unnecessarily frustrated when I’m moving slowly or having trouble focusing. Accepting some variability in my day-to-day is a more compassionate approach, even when I can’t do much about it.
On the other hand, I might also feel annoyed at having to slow down when I want to zoom. Maybe I can find room to go fast, temporarily. The important thing here is not to make commitments based on my top gear that I won’t be able to fulfill when my energy level changes.
Over the years, I’ve done my best to teach my students how to ride their energy waves and give them support and space to do so. I’ve worked on this with my employees as well. We’re not machines — we’re people, and we deserve to be treated that way.
Whatever your energy level today, I hope you can find activities to match it and people to accept it. I hope you experience a sense of flow whether you’re sitting quietly or achieving impressive feats.
And if not today, then maybe tomorrow.
