What is your “Mental Energy Bucket”?
I am a firm believer that we, as humans, hold within us a bank of mental energy. I refer to this as the “mental energy bucket.” At times, we feel our buckets are full and at other times, we feel that our bucket is depleted. Having an empty mental energy bucket can lead to difficulties concentrating, anxious thoughts, depressive symptoms, negative self-talk, regression into old patterns of behaving that you’re not proud of, and burnout.
What drains your bucket?
Assessing what fills your bucket and empties your bucket can be a helpful tool in finding a good life balance. It’s also a way to prioritize the things you really want to put your energy toward. So how do you identify what fills or depletes your bucket? Let’s discuss the act of worrying for example. Engaging in the process of worrying for long periods of time can be exhausting. And while it seems that spending time to think about something over and over again could somehow change the outcome of whatever said thing it is you are worrying about, in reality, simply thinking about something doesn’t change the outcome. Worry then, is something that can drain your bucket. Other things that can drain your bucket include poor sleep, caretaking others, poor nutrition, working too much etc.
What fill your bucket?
So what sorts of things can fill your mental energy bucket? Doing things that make you happy or feel good like spending time with your favorite person, engaging in self-care, watching your favorite t.v. show, reading a book or taking a vacation! Finding a good balance between the things that fill your bucket and drain your bucket are imperative to living a healthy well balanced-life. And it’s such a simple concept. If you need assistance identifying the things that fill or deplete your bucket, please reach out! You can read more about me here: Desiree Hawley, Psy.D.
