So tired in fact that I started to write this post four days in a row and didn’t have the energy. I would come here and stare at the blank page, write a few sentences, look at my words and think, blech…I’m too tired to write a post about energy, or positive motivation or living inspired or making a difference. The only place I want to make a difference at is in getting some sleep. THAT would be different.

Call me a grouch. You wouldn’t be too far off. The fact is that when we are tired, it’s hard to hang on to the vision of staying inspired. It’s hard to run around like Little Mary Sunshine throwing sunbeams around everywhere. Not when we would rather take a little stardust of our own and catch a snooze.

Running On Empty

I’m not always very good at seeing the signs until I run out of gas. As I have said here many times, balance isn’t my strong suit. It’s my challenge in life and my perennial goal, but I am more of an ebb and flow sort of a girl. I have a High Tide and a Low Tide and if I’m not paying attention my Low Tide can quickly dissolve into a NO tide until I have ran myself dry. Then I have to pick myself up, drag myself over to my own personal gas station and re-fuel the tank until I am running on full again.

Plugging in to the Source- Or Sources…

Before I can fill the tank, I have to figure out how I managed to drain it in the first place. Over the years I’ve come to understand that I have more then one energy source that either restores or drains me.  Usually- going back to that balance again- in my case, I have managed to tip the scales and am overusing one area and not paying attention to any of the areas. When this happens, there seems to be an energy short circuit or overload that happens that sets my system out of wack.

Physical Energy
Emotional Energy
Spiritual Energy
Mental/Intellectual Energy

Too much or not enough of any of these four areas and off I go into the land of  Too Tired to function. Is it just me? Lets take them one by one.

Physical Energy

Too much- There are weeks, like this one, where the wheels are spinning non-stop from sun up to sun down. Up at 4:30 am to drive one to baseball practice then going to work out then straight in to something else, then staying up too late and not enough sleep. Burning the candle at both ends until I drop. Or the opposite extreme,-Too little- the weeks that feel as if I am chained to my desk from sun up to sun down and the only exercise I get is my arm lifting my coffee cup to my mouth. It always amazes me how I can spend an entire day not moving from one spot and feel so physically drained.

Focusing on getting a healthy amount of sleep, a moderate reasonable amount of exercise and recommitting to a diet of lean, clean non processed foods is what works to get my physical body back in good energetic health.

Emotional Energy

Life’s Little Drama. Nothing is more draining to me then the melodrama of life. I wish with all my heart it could be left on the stage. But alas, apparently a good deal of us out here think we would be bored and so not a day goes by that some ruckus is kicked up somewhere! That’s just part of life! How we choose to deal with the day to day drama of life makes the difference in how our energy holds out. Some days are better then others.

Remembering to exercise my proactive right to choose, to maintain healthy boundaries, to let go of the need to be in control of other people’s choices  and to approach everyone in a spirit of love and grace goes far in helping me to maintain emotional balance- when I can do it.

Spiritual Energy

For some people this is the main plug in back to the King Source Himself. Or whatever Higher Power rejuvenates  and restores that sense of balance. Perhaps its a walk out in nature. Meditation. Quiet time. A bubble bath. Reconnecting to that spiritual inner core for me is key to my sanity and includes prayer, journaling, meditation and time to reflect on gratitude and what it means to live inspired and make a difference. It’s a time to start over and get centered again.

Mental/Intellectual Energy

For me, there is nothing more draining then boredom. I am hard-wired to be learning new things, going on new adventures, challenging my brain, solving new puzzles. I am also guilty however of exercising my poor brain into overkill, reading six new subjects at once, trying to multi-task and over train until I have short-circuited my wires and everything looks fuzzy and won’t process from mental fatigue. Then I have to put everything down and take a break until I can pick up one thing at a time and master it. One would think I would learn this lesson once and for all- but um…no. Learning and reading is my drug of choice and I constantly fall on and off the wagon.

Putting it all together.

The times in my life when I have been and am the most successful is when I manage to keep all four of those energy circles managed at the same time. If any one of them get out of balance, my total energy level drops. It isn’t good enough to be exercising and eating healthy and getting great sleep if there is too much drama going on or if I am draining the brain. It doesn’t work when I am balanced spiritually, but am unhealthy in food and exercise. It is the balance of all four that gives me the best plan of attack for success. So when I get to a week like this one, the first thing I do is stop and analyse which energy source have I been neglecting? Where do I need to plug in? Which tank is running on low? Where is there an overflow? Where do I need to work to find that elusive balance?

How About You?

How do you keep your energy levels at tip top shape? Any special tips or tricks? Please, share! This week, I’m taking notes!

On this show the cast looks for people in need of a new life and a leg up. They find families who have had hard times and are living in horrible conditions trying to hold it all together. When they find these families, they rebuild the house, give the family their dream vacations and in short, make a really huge difference in someone’s life in the space of  7 days.

My roomie always laughs at me when I say if I had that much money to do something like that with, I would do it. But it’s true. When I have it, I give it. Even when I don’t have it, I give it.

And that’s about the time Wendi has to put the breaks on before I end up giving everything away. Oh, but she does it with a smile.

What I’ve realized over the years is you don’t need a lot of money to make a difference in someone’s life. Changing a life could be something as small as a kind word at just the right time, or donating your services for a good cause, or even as simple as sending an email to put one friend in touch with the resources she desperately needs at that very moment.

Mom always did say the best things came in small packages, and Hope is the smallest package of all.

It’s okay to make really, really stupid mistakes, then feel like a complete imbecile when you realize what you did wrong.
You’re not an imbecile, I promise.

It’s okay to step outside your comfort zone.
It’s okay to make a complete fool of yourself.
It’s okay to laugh at yourself.
It’s okay if other people laugh at you.

It’s okay to procrastinate, and keep putting off things that really, really scare you.
But most of the time, it feels better to just get it over with.

It’s okay to shut the entire world out, if you need a day to yourself.
It’s okay to scream and yell and curse out your computer if it makes you feel better.
It’s okay to blast some music and have your own private dance party, when things get to be too much.
It’s okay to decide that it’s time for that vacation that you never have time for.

It’s okay if you need a shoulder to cry on, when every stupid little thing keeps going wrong.
Even if none of it really matters.

It’s okay if some days you need everything to be all about you.
It’s okay if you can’t always be grateful, even if others aren’t as lucky as you.
It’s okay if the dishes pile up in the sink, from time to time.
It’s okay to completely slack off, once in a while.

It’s okay to ignore what everyone else insists you do, and just do what you need to do, for you.
Even if they don’t approve.

It’s okay not to be the perfect husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, boyfriend, girlfriend, daughter, son, employee, boss…
It’s okay to just be 100% you.
It’s okay to demand that people love you for you, and not for who they want you to be.
It’s okay to refuse to conform.

It’s okay to be weird, awkward, shy, quiet, antisocial, loud, overly social, hyperactive, unfashionable, easily forgettable, or have an obnoxious laugh.
Some people find that charming. And they’re probably the people you’d rather be around anyways.

It’s okay to love.
Even if you’re going to get hurt.
It’s okay to give your all.
Even if you’re going to be taken advantage of.

It’s okay to care more about others’ happiness than your own.
Even if people are going to take you for granted.
It’s okay to go above and beyond for people, even if you know you won’t get anything in return.
It’s still worth it.

It’s okay if you needed this reminder.
So did I.

It’s okay.

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each in passing, only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; so on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is easy to be a ship that sails alone on the ocean of of life.

Well, to be honest, I happen to think it is the most difficult way to go about life. So, perhaps I should rephrase and state that I think it is painfully easy to slip into the pattern of sailing alone. Even when we don’t want to. Even when we’ve made it a point to try and look around and be there for others, reach out a helping hand and be aware of the other ships sailing out in the ocean besides us.

It’s still hard. We are conditioned from very early in life to “Stand up for ourself.” “Be Tough.” “Be Independent.”

We all know that “When the going gets tough…the tough_________Get going.”   That’s right. You knew the answer. No way did your mind start to fill in that blank with start hollering for help!

We aren’t conditioned to ask for help, and we don’t know how to feel about it when it’s presented to us. A lot of us don’t know how to keep our eyes out for those who might need it, and if and when we do stumble on to someone who does look like they could benefit from a helping hand, we hesitate, not knowing if we should get involved for fear of insulting them or making them feel bad.

Somewhere along the line we’ve been sold a bill of goods. Somewhere we picked up some erroneous belief that if we “handle life on our own” quietly and without complaint  that we will have have achieved some zen-like courageous level of success on par with the Lone Ranger and Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry Character.

I’d like to go on record as saying I think both of those men’s lives weren’t worth the dust on their shoes.

They were both lonely empty men who didn’t know how to share their lives with anyone. They harbored hero  complexes and carried the weight of the world on their shoulders without being able to depend on anyone to be there for them. Ever. They kept all of their emotions locked up tight inside, sharing nothing with nobody,and in the end-they rode off into the dusty sunset-ALONE.

This isn’t Zen. This isn’t heroic. This is afraid.

Afraid to reach out, afraid to be less then perfect, afraid to be needy, afraid to be needed, afraid to intrude, afraid to be hurt, afraid to hurt, afraid to look foolish.

Simply afraid.

Living in fear stops us from living. It certainly stops us from living inspired. And it stops us from making a difference.

I challenge us to be more daring then that.  We all have the exact same fears. None of us are exempt. We hesitate before reaching out. We think, should I?

Yes, we should. Take a chance.

I dare you. Don’t let that ship pass you by.

Those of you who live in other areas where you’re probably tired of precipitation by now are probably thinking that wet, cold weather definitely is uninspiring when it goes on for days and days. February is probably the worst for those Winter Blues. Everything is gray and dreary, shoveling snow is becoming a chore and you can’t wait for the weather to turn nice again.

Out here in the desert where I’ve been living for the past 10 years, life is a little different. Rain or snow is rarely seen, and when it is, it’s cause for celebration. Twitter lights up with nearly every desert dweller asking, “Is it raining in your part of town? It is here! Oh look, it’s snowing too!”

Keep in mind, our version of excitable snow is nothing like yours. A single, microscopic flake is enough to make any of us Las Vegans go running for the boots and mittens.

The Waste Not, Want Not Phenomenon of Desert Rain

When I first moved out here I encountered a strange side effect of having grown up on the north eastern coast for most of my life.  Back East, beautiful sunny days were something you made sure you went out and enjoyed before more bad weather set in.

Once I moved out here, where every day is one of those “nice days”, I felt guilty if I didn’t go outside and use it. Eventually, feeling like I had to do so became a chore. What? Another nice day? You have to be kidding me! Where were the dark rainy days that allowed me an easy excuse to stay in with a warm cup of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich and be nothing but a slug all day?

Turns out, many of the transplants I spoke to had the same thing happen to them when they moved here. Nice days are a dime a dozen. The tables had shifted and now the dreary days were like gold.

When I worked for the sign company, the whole shop would stop what they were doing to go watch the rain. And when it snows? Oh man, that’s the headline news on television.

Silence of the Rain

Last week, Friar and Davina both put up extraordinary posts about silence. I know exactly the type of silence they were talking about, too. Snowfall silence. Silence so thick you can hear the wheels in your brain turning. Silence that blankets everything and offers you incredible clarity.

Out here, Rain Silence is a little different. It’s the sound of a quiet house and the patter of drops on the aluminum carport roof outside. It’s the wind tapping on the windows every so often. It’s a sense of warmth and security knowing you actually have warmth and security. Rain Silence is cleansing. It’s a way to slow down and recharge. It’s also knowing that it won’t last long enough for you to get tired of it, either.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go enjoy the rain. Rumor has it we may get a little snow in the valley too. Sounds like a bonus to me.