Awareness of why your energy may be flat, or you have lost your zest for life or work
Getting your Oomph back week one
Please remember, if you are in crisis at the moment or struggling with life challenges or mental health issues then this may not be most helpful at this time. Self-reflection and selfcare is important, however, it is not a replacement for professional advice. If you feel self-reflection may be triggering for you then please speak to a healthcare professional before you start. The posts I am sharing over the next wee while are for self-care and sometimes, we need more than that, and that’s okay too. There may also be physical health issues impacting on how ‘flat’ we feel and if we have concerns for our physical health we should seek medical advice.
Remember also, please do not make having to reflect another thing to do. If it has value for you, take a few moments on a regular basis where you can sit, relax and reflect. This is about you and your life; you choose to do it, or not, as meets your needs.
As shared over the past couple of weeks my intention was to share ideas from the getting back your oomph booklet and perhaps to build on them as the booklet was written some time ago. There are many ways we may describe our ‘oomph’. We may call it energy, motivation, mojo, inner spark, zest for life. What matters is if we feel flat and want to do something about it, then perhaps some of the ideas which will be shared over the next few weeks will be of interest to you.
Perhaps the first reflection is to describe what getting your oomph back would mean to you? Consider completing the following sentence
If I regained my zest for life/oomph/motivation, interest in work I would…………..
Perhaps the second reflection is to think about why we have lost our oomph/zest for life motivation and to capture those thoughts here.
I think my loss of zest for life/oomph/motivation, interest in work is due to…………..
Life can throw many challenges at us, losing a loved one, worry about money or our job, the health of a loved one, or our own, the unrest in the world, the list goes on. There are so many challenges in life we actually put together a resource booklet on selfcare ideas to help navigate these. You can find that in the link provided. https://www.copescotland.com/resources/surviving-the-sea-of-life-booklet
You may find to regain that sense of energy/zest/motivation there are some other things you need to think about or changes to make. You may find from your reflection there is more than one thing impacting on how you feel. Please do not be overwhelmed by that, recognise it and realise we may need to take things one step at a time and remember, if you need to talk to someone then do. There are often more people willing to listen than we realise.
When you hit a bouncing ball it bounces back, however, when you keep hitting it, then it loses some of its air and cannot bounce back so easily. That is the same with our resilience, we can take on a challenge, recover, then another and another and at some point, we become mentally and emotionally exhausted.
This is not only about bouncing back, but the changes we need to explore to help us get the energy and motivation to bounce back. It is not quick or easy, but transformation is possible. As the poet Maya Angelou wrote:
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
Thanks for reading, next week we will explore internal and external factors which can have an impact on us and how to focus on the 15% in our control and not be overwhelmed by the 85% we can do little or nothing about. Be kind to you, you do matter
Hilda