energize yourself

Yesterday evening, as I wrapped up my work and went for my evening walk, I felt low energy. Even though I completed walking for one and a half miles (out of habit), I still felt low energy in my body. As yesterday was my workout day, I knew feeling low energy was no excuse not to get started with my routine. 

Somehow walking gave me a little boost to follow up with my workout routine. And I had to start small to get things rolling. I knew from my previous experiences that I can get the workout done, I just had it to get started. So, I played one of my favorite Zumba workout videos on YouTube and started dancing. With low energy, moving my limbs didn’t come easy but after a couple of minutes into the video, I felt my energy coming back to me. I was faster, swifter and my movements started matching the beats beautifully. I had found my energy again. As I completed the video, I experienced a rush of goodness and had an epiphany at that time: It’s not that I had no or low energy, I just had to energize myself. After the short dance workout, I got inspired to actually start an intense cardio boxing session and later do some quick yoga stretches to wrap up my fitness routine for the day. Next, I felt motivated to do some cooking and finished editing an essay as well. 

From this experience and all the various gym outings that I have had previously, I can confidently say that on the days that I feel the lowest energy levels, once I start moving or working out, I end up having the most intense workouts. I know it’s weird. There’s just a switch that gets flipped somehow, and once I get charged, I become unstoppable. 

It turns out we don’t have energy, we are energy. If you find telling yourself that you have no or low energy, it simply means you need to learn to energize yourself. 

Get up from that couch and move around a little. Take a walk outside, or play some peppy music that gets you going. Stretch your arms and legs, do some jumping jacks, squats or push-ups. Get your heart beating and blood flowing fast. 

As children play around, it seems as if they have an unlimited supply of energy. Like them, a majority of us adults have access to that as well. 

Of course, there are times when our schedules are demanding and we get exhausted due to them. And there are phases in our life when we have low energy such as going through periods of loss and grief or during an illness when most of our energy is used to heal our body. Also, sometimes the people around us and their issues drain the energy out of us. But there are occasions when we ourselves enter into energy-sucking traps as well. 

If you are feeling less energy, chances are something is blocking it. Either you’ve been in a state of inertia for too long, or maybe some negative emotion or belief is clogging your pipes. Maybe your victim mindset and your pessimistic self-talk are causing your energy levels to decline. 

It’s time to stand up and start moving. It’s time to let go of those limiting beliefs that are blocking your circuits. It’s time to connect to the life around you and the life within you. It’s time to energize yourself. 

(This essay was written on September 12, 2019)