How to Reset Your Energy Throughout the Day
By Ailin Goode
Practicing mindfulness will not suddenly get us less exploitative jobs, more human rights, or stop the climate crisis, but it will help us with our feelings.
Any time we intentionally give ourselves space to feel, we allow those feelings to move through us a little more. As I’ve practiced intentionality, I’ve found myself less upended by external things. If something happens that upsets me, I still feel it. I’m still upset by it, but I can bring myself through that emotion much faster than I could before. This means that I spend more of my time in a calmer state.
I have a lot of trouble switching tasks. I often fixate for too long on one thing while simultaneously procrastinating starting something else that should be a priority. I struggle to let go of different energies or thoughts and can end up running myself ragged over a phone call that went poorly, a distressing news article, or any other thing that might trigger my mental spirals.
As a curious and ambitious person who lives an intentionally dynamic life it was essential that I be able to channel my energy well to avoid becoming overwhelmed. I do this using energy resets. They are how I protect my mental and emotional space and how I soften transitions between different tasks or events throughout my day.
This is not an original idea and there is *plenty* of information about energy channeling and self-care hacks like this on and offline. This is just my personal experience with it.
It must be something that gets me out of my thoughts and into feeling my body. When our focus is in our body we give our brain space to process things that have happened through the day. Whatever energy we’re holding in our body, stress from a meeting, panic from the labor crisis, hopelessness from the most recent attacks on human rights, or existential dread from *gestures around* everything, can move through you. When we occupy our body, we can allow our mind to rest. Then our brain and body can intuitively work through whatever we’re feeling.
For me, it always has to be something physical that affects my entire body like: a run, a shower, Yoga, a session on a punching bag, sparring, smoking (not cigarettes), meditating, walking my dog, skating, dancing, laying in the sun.
The ways our bodies process energy can look different every day. Sometime, several minutes of deep breathing result in tears flowing freely. Other times, I find myself curled up in child’s pose for fifteen or twenty minutes in the middle of a Yoga flow because my body needs to feel safe.
My attention span is still pretty short, so I can usually only keep my focus completely in my body for a few moments at a time, but it adds up. I don’t adhere to strict schedules, and I don’t time these activities. I simply do them until I feel more grounded.
I spent most of my life in a constant state of stress, so this calm state is one of my favorite things I’ve developed internally.
As we find ourselves doing more and more and feeling more and more we have to find ways to create internal peace and space for us to just Be. It will often feel uncomfortable. As a society, we are used to numbing ourselves, sometimes as a habit, other times as a coping mechanism. But discomfort isn’t always bad and as we learn to work within ourselves we can create an internal environment that gives us strength and allows us to manage the one thing we truly can, ourselves. This isn’t to say that we must be this way all the time. Self-care doesn’t look the same every day and escapism has its place. The idea is to be intentional with our energy and channel it as we want, not just live our lives in a constant state of reaction or default mode.
If you want to start finding ways to reset your energy through your day, start by simply noticing how you’re feeling at different moments. Pay attention to how different things make you feel. Did that new deadline from your boss make your heart race? Did you and your partner get into an argument? Where do you feel it? Does your chest feel tight? When you notice how things make you feel, you can begin to try different things to take that feeling away. Deep breathing can bring your heart rate back down. Stretching can loosen tense muscles and help you relax. Every person is different, so different things are more effective for some than others. The key is to practice attending to your feelings.
Meet the Writer
Ailin Goode is a journalist turned poet with over a decade of writing experience across multiple fields. They have acted as the lead journalist for an independent music magazine, the managing editor of a child health and safety website, and as a foreign policy analyst for an independent news site. When they are not writing, you can find them playing with their dog, modeling, studying, or hanging out with their friends.
