It’s Time To Start Protecting Your Mental Energy

Let me show you exactly how to do it.

How do you feel after a long day?

Me, I often feel drained, both mentally and physically.

My willpower is completely exhausted. I don’t bother to cook a healthy dinner, do a workout, or read a book. Instead, I scroll through social media, snack instead of having a proper dinner, and stay up until 2 AM just because.

If this sounds like you, keep reading; here’s a step-by-step way to feel better :

Step 1: Understand Different Types of Fatigue

Your battery will run low after eight hours at work and a commute. The question is:

What kind of tired are you?

Physical and mental fatigue are nothing alike:

• Physical fatigue happens after you work out, do physical work, or run errands all day. Your body is tired, but your mind isn’t completely drained.
• Mental fatigue usually appears after a period of chronic stress. It can include feelings of apathy, hopelessness, and detachment. Even if you can physically do what you want, it’s hard to motivate yourself to get up from the couch.

But here’s the catch:

Mental exhaustion can impair your physical performance by decreasing your endurance.

Mentally tired people don’t have a physiological problem — their heart rate, blood lactate, oxygen uptake, etc. are unaffected. But the perceived exertion is higher.

In simple words:

It feels harder to do things. Your motivation is way down, you might be feeling pessimistic or cynical, or you might detach and start caring less and less about things that were important to you.

Unlike physical exhaustion, mental fatigue can sneak up on you. You’re very aware of when your muscles become tired. Here’s how to tune in with your mental battery as well:

Step 2: Explore How Different Situations Affect Your Energy

For this step, observe your daily activities.

How do you feel before and after:

• Having coffee with your partner?
• Driving to work?
• The quarterly team meeting?
• Eating lunch with a particular co-worker?
• Finishing your report and submitting it?
• Grocery shopping?
• Commuting back home?

Try to be mindful of physical and mental signs.

For example, eating lunch with your gossip-obsessed colleague might make you feel observed or judged, or extra careful about impressing others. Or, your stomach might get upset. Unless you had bad luck and something in your lunchbox was less-than-fresh, both are symptoms of anxiety and mental exhaustion.

I highly recommend journaling about your feelings and energy levels for a few days. In the end, list the situations that increase your energy, and the ones that eat at it. Try to be specific, too. This will help with the next step:

Step 3: Recognize What You Have Control Over

We don’t have control over every situation in our lives. Work might be stressing you out, but you still need money to pay rent.

So, take your list and highlight what you can and can’t manage. Even work-related interactions can sometimes be controlled. For example:

• Spending your breaks with a specific co-worker — in your control, you can choose who you hang out with.
• Working on a report with that co-worker — probably not in your control; it’s a part of your job.

Do the same exercise for the things that do lift you up like:

• Spending time on a hobby — in your control.
• Spending time with your sister — not always in your control; it also depends on her schedule.

Step 4: Set Boundaries

Start limiting the energy-draining situations you can control.

It’s normal to feel some guilt for this at first. We’re evolutionarily programmed to seek approval. Setting a boundary brings about the fear of not being liked.

Remember that every interaction is a give and take of energy. If you feel drained after spending time with somebody, they’re taking more than they’re giving. Setting a boundary is the way to make sure things are even.

And, I’m not talking about emergencies and helping a friend in need here. In the short term, some conversations with your loved ones will be more tiring to you because they need your support.

But if your interactions are consistently tiring, it’s time to set a limit. It’s simple: do less of what makes you exhausted.

Step 5: Replenish Yourself

For the situations, you can’t control, make sure you take the time to replenish your energy. Choose an energy-boosting activity to do after, whether it’s working out, playing with your pet or a quick five-minute meditation.

You can do this for all situations, big and small. Match the high-energy activities to fit after the mentally tiring ones.

Remember that a single stressful day won’t break you. But if you consistently neglect to replenish your energy, you will experience more and more symptoms of mental fatigue.

To be sustainably productive, it’s essential to manage your energy, not just your time.

This act of self-care will help you feel happier, healthier, and a lot more fulfilled at the end of a long day!