Recharging your emotional battery
We’re living through trying times. Recharge your emotional battery so you can find the power to keep growing and thriving.
by: E.B. Johnson
We are living through challenging times. It takes a lot just to get through the day and hold ourselves together, but that doesn’t even cut it in every single instance. Our emotional resilience is limitless, but it isn’t bottomless. We have to take a step back when we’re being challenged and allow ourselves to decompress and recalibrate. Through this emotional re-centering we can get back on track and back to the core of who we are.
Are you feeling exhausted? Run down, or otherwise socially isolated or irritable? All of these are signs of a low emotional battery, which desperately needs to be recharged. We can do this by finding our sense of joy again and getting back in touch with our support networks. Nourish your physical body, take some time to yourself, and set some boundaries that allow you to re-insert yourself in life that you are strong enough to navigate.
Your emotional resilience isn’t bottomless.
Emotional resilience is a crucial part of building a life that is happy and secure. No matter how hard you work to get things right in this life, life is going to challenge you and throw hardship and setbacks in your way. The only way to overcome these difficulties is to get through them, and we do that with our emotional resilience and strength — a limitless, but not bottomless source of replenishing strength in our lives.
When you start feeling low and run down, you have to take a step back to recharge your emotional batteries. Emotions are a complex thing to manage. They can easily overwhelm us and muddy up our rational thought whenever they get out of control. Being constantly bombarded by rough emotional experiences leaves us raw and broken.
Getting engaged in life and our happiness requires that we remove ourselves whenever we’re feeling drained, and gain a better perspective on where we’re at and what we’re doing. Rather than battling through the lagging motivation and the corroded relationships, we can fix them by looking inward and allowing ourselves space to breathe. Your emotional resilience can stretch beyond the horizon, but you need to take the time to nourish it on a regular basis.
Warning signs of a low emotional charge.
Are you struggling with a low emotional charge? Do you feel exhausted, run-down, or otherwise burned out by your responsibilities and everything that the world demands of you? There are many different warning signs that your emotional battery is on empty, but these are some of the most common ones you should keep and eye out for.
Totally unmotivated
Have you totally lost your sense of motivation? Are you listless, bored, or otherwise frozen with exhaustion that makes it impossible for you to get excited about anything? Lacking motivation is a common symptom of exhaustion, hopelessness, and burnout. When we have no energy to even maintain our daily routines, we will struggle to find the energy to proactively seek change and improvement in our lives.
Corroded relationships
Relationships are a delicate balance, and they are heavily impacted by our emotional states. When you’re emotionally drained, it’s hard to stay connected to the people you love most. Commonly, you might pull back from friends and loved ones, in a desperate attempt to safeguard your wellbeing and your welfare. Without the nourishment and attention that they need, these relationships can begin to distance and erode completely.
Social isolation
As our relationships begin to splinter, we can find that we begin to deal with social isolation. Social isolation is toxic and can lead to an even greater erosion of happiness and health. As humans, we thrive on social connection, and these connections become even more important when we’re dealing with hardship and stress. Are you so exhausted that you’re letting your relationships collapse? Social isolation may not be far behind.
Increasingly irritable
Our moods are directly dependent on our emotions, though they are not the same thing. Emotions are specific responses to specific stimuli in our lives. When you’re sad, or mad — there’s usually a specific reason you can trace it back to. Moods are bigger and harder to shift, though. After a long time dealing with negative emotions that deplete your battery, you can find that your mood becomes negative and you become increasingly irritable with everyone (yourself included).
Physical exhaustion
Believe it or not, our physical state is closely tied to our emotional state. When your emotional battery drains to zero, you can find that your physical energy goes with it too. It’s a symbiotic relationship. As your emotions push you toward the brink, you might find that you begin to struggle with sleep. Insomnia follows with an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Over time, your physical body becomes more and more exhausted and it becomes difficult to keep up.
Feelings of hopelessness
What is your state of mind like when your emotions dip? More often than not, we find that we go into some really dark places when we’re emotionally drained. You might begin to experience feelings of hopelessness, or you might feel like a failure and feel like there’s no point. This is just the negativity talking. When we pull away and allow ourselves to recharge from a different angle, we often come back and see things from an entirely different perspective.
The best ways to recharge your emotional battery.
Don’t allow your battery to wear down to zero. You need to keep your emotional energy up so you can remain resilient and strong in life and in love. To do this, you’re going to have to commit, though, and find better ways to connect with others even while you learn how to insulate and protect yourself and your wellbeing.
1. Give yourself a sense of joy
Too often, we underestimate the power of joy and its ability to transform our lives from the inside out. Whenever we’re struggling or feeling as though we are down emotionally (or physically) an infusion of joy can go a long way in reminding us what matters most and what we want from this life. Getting back in touch with our joy allows us to see ourselves in a more positive light, but also helps us to touch base with the light of the world around us.
Break away from the misery and the unhappiness, even if it’s just for a moment. Invest yourself in an action that brings you joy. You don’t have to perform some big over the top gesture. You simply need to find a way to laugh and enjoy yourself and the people around you.
Forget about how drained you are and live in the moment. Feel that laughter in your belly and make a note of every smile. These are the bits of fuel that will help you to bring your fire back up to a roar. Fill yourself up with happiness and joy from the inside out. Look for small or simple experiences and actions you can take, which lead to big results. The more creative you are, the better.
2. Invest in your support networks
Who do you consider as being a part of your support network? When things are going well in your life, who do you run to with the good news? What about the bad stuff? Do you have a close circle of friends and family members who you can trust? Our support networks are a substantial help when it comes to recharging our emotional batteries and getting back on top. These are the people who tell us how it really is, while wanting nothing but the best for us.
If you’re feeling like the world has really beaten you down and worn you out emotionally, you need to reach out to and invest in your support networks. Nourish them. Give your friends what they need even as you ask them to support you through your own trying times.
Listen to their advice and listen to them when they give you their perspective. Know, however, that you need to be there for them too. A friendship is a two-way street, but it’s also like a garden. If you want to step outside and enjoy it, you have to take time on other days to nourish it and care for it will enough to bloom. The same goes for our support networks. If you want these circles to be there when times get tough, be there for them when times are good.
3. Spend some time on your own
Our bodies (and our emotional and physical minds) are a bit like computers. They’re always toiling away beneath the surface, working hard to make sense of the world around them even while they also try to protect you and give you the things you need. Just as the battery of a laptop computer can become run down and empty, though, we humans and our bodies work in a very similar way.
Your body (and your emotions) can’t handle being battered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by the hardship and adversity of life. Whether these difficulties consist of problems at home, or problems at work and in society — we can only take so much before we breakdown or implode all over ourselves and every other victim in our paths.
Spend some time on your own when you’re feeling exhausted emotionally. Get away from everyone else’s expectations and needs for a little while and just be with yourself. Be present. Be comfortable in your thoughts and your body. Fill the time with things that encourage you, or things that inspire you and recharge you. The more time you spend on your own, the more you will find your energy and presence returning to you.
4. Nourish your physical body
Although we tend to think of emotional health as being tied to our mental equilibrium, it also plays a major role in our physical bodies and how they serve us too. Chasing a life that is full of stress and endless pressure, this can lead to an erosion of emotion which is followed closely an erosion of the body. When we don’t take care of our “hearts” our minds usually aren’t too long to follow.
Don’t only focus on getting away and quieting your mind. Spend some time nourishing your physical body too. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep at night. Eat and prepare a healthy diet that helps to encourage a balanced brain, and a balanced circulatory system.
Exercise too is a great way to nourish the body and through that the spirit. When we feel good on the outside (aka in our physical bodies) it’s easier to turn inward and quiet ourselves and our fears. Recharge your emotional battery by making sure all your physical boxes are also ticked off the list. Nourish your physical body and the emotional one won’t be far behind.
5. Set solid boundaries for yourself
What type of boundaries do you set for yourself? What about other people? Do you give them firm limits and then enforce those limits whenever they try to “test the fences”? Boundaries are such a crucial part of becoming who we are. Our boundaries allow us to pinpoint our expectations, but also allow us to protect our wellbeing and those things close to us like emotional and physical energy.
When you get worn out, lean into your boundaries. Stand up for yourself and say “no” more often. You don’t have to be all things to all people. It’s okay to just take care of yourself once in a while. Be okay walking away from the edge of your limits and be okay communicating those limits to others.
Stop pushing yourself into a point of burnout because of your inability to prioritize your own needs. Your emotional health is just as important as anyone else’s, but you can’t maintain it when you’re taking on everyone else’s burdens. Set solid boundaries for yourself. Don’t allow yourself to get burnt-out in the name of someone else’s needs alone. Set solid boundaries for others — don’t allow them to take, take, take until there’s nothing left for you.
Putting it all together…
Our emotional battery — while limitless in the challenges it can help us overcome — is not bottomless. We have to take space to recharge our emotional batteries from time-to-time and ensure that we’re not being drained by our responsibilities and the people that we love. In order to do this, however, we have to accept how this exhaustion impacts us and then take action in the name of our happiness and stability.
Reconnect with your sense of joy and allow this to reinvigorate your emotional energy and purpose. Joy is a powerful feeling, and it can recharge our optimism and our hope. Find joy creatively, then spend some time on your own re-centering on the things which matter most to you in your life (and relationships). Open up to your support networks and allow them to increase your excitement and your happiness. The people we love most have a way of seeing the best in us, even when we struggle to appreciate ourselves. Use this to your advantage. Nourish your physical body too and know that your physical health is closely tied to your mental and emotional health. The stronger your body, the stronger your mind. Set solid boundaries for yourself and extend them to others. You’re no good to anyone burned out and emotionally drained to the point of exhaustion.
