Energy's drowning
Your energy is limited.
There is so much we can give of ourselves to other people. Even if you are the most extroverted person in the entire world, your energy is finite.
I used to say giving back to the community and helping others is free. I don’t agree with that anymore. Being authentic allows people to be vulnerable with you. The more social and welcoming you are, the more people take you as their home base. Especially when you have it all together. When you start welcoming strangers’ emotions to the table, the danger increases. For yourself. And are you really helping?
This week, 2 out of the 5 strangers I landed calls with started crying. Today I was supposed to call 4 of my friends to help them with various issues and I couldn’t do it. Instead, I spent the morning by myself running and organizing my projects and the afternoon in the park with a friend. Completely offline. I didn’t message them. I didn’t call them. I felt incredibly overwhelmed so I just zoned out.
Here are some solutions/ reflections I have found for myself:
I can’t be everyone’s accountability partner nor do I want to. I have picked 6 people, and I will become emotionally unavailable for the rest.
I will help at scale and cancel 1-1s. That’s where my passion for creation comes about. I make posts about job search/ mental health, videos about the same, and I write newsletters about personal development.
I deleted the Instagram app from my phone.
I turned my phone B&W (Dopamine fast).
I will be solo travelling in remote places from the 18th of November to the 28th of December. It will be time to reflect and design my life for 2022.