When Characteristics Collide and Energy Does Not Match Ambition

I had a great experience yesterday presenting to parents about the characteristics of sensitivity and emotional intensity.  It was affirming to hear from so many people how important the information was to them—it encouraged me that I’m on the right track with this work of blogging and coaching.  I also think there might be one or two among the participants who may choose to join our tribe here on the blog.  As a finishing flourish, I was asked to write an article on intensity for a national newsletter.   

I was so excited that my first thought upon leaving the conference was that I wanted to go home immediately and incorporate what I had learned from the participants into my blog and to find answers to the questions I hadn’t been able to respond to and to formulate an e-mail to the participants that would explain why they might want to join us here.  There's that intensity.  My need to know, to create meaning, to be intellectually stimulated and to constantly improve can lead to sustained attention for hours on end when I’m really interested in something.

Alas, there is also the matter of my sensitivity.  Since my long winter’s nap in December, I have worked on projects through the better part of three weekends.  In addition to working my regular teaching job, I’m tutoring two afternoons a week and then coming home to coach and work on my blog makeover.  The truth is, though my brain was spinning with ideas and possibilities, my whole being needed to stop and recover.  Frustrating as this can be, I know that if I don’t surrender to a period of nothingness, I’ll end up grumpy, prone to making mistakes and inevitably sick. 

Unique travelers tend to need either more or less sleep than the general population.  For me, it’s better to get enough sleep or I end up paying for it with an extended period of what my friend calls “being worthless.”  So I remind myself now that balance is called for when trying to create harmony between drive and energy.  What can I do right now to restore balance and achieve peak productivity?

• First, surrender to the need for “recovery.”  I often have to wait out the conflict in my brain and body where I’m still amped up with thinking, but my body is exhausted.  Whether recovery means taking long baths, watching movies, getting a massage or finding some outdoor space where you can relax, be still until you feel restored.  For me there’s a noticeable increase in energy that often comes only after feeling blob-like--unpleasant but necessary.

• Use exercise, even a gentle walk or yoga, to build some energy.  The more regularly you do this the better.

• Engage in guided visualization to help you first relax and then feel energized.

• As much as my intuitive prefer to gravitate to what feels like the next best action to take self bristles at schedules, creating one can help you track your energy output.  Make a schedule that balances intense periods of work with refreshing breaks.  As hard as it can be to interrupt that super focused state of productivity, there is evidence that we’re actually more fruitful when we do so at regular intervals.

• Take a holiday from technology. Turn off your phone, don’t open e-mail and turn off the TV.

• Go to bed early one night a week.  Commit to it ahead of time, and plan your day accordingly so that you’re ready to be in bed and on your way to REM at your chosen time.

It’s a constant dance between drive and energy.  There are times when being seduced by the lure of pushing a little further is hard to resist.  That’s okay—just have a recovery plan in place and work towards greater balance in the future.

How do you balance your tendency toward drive and your energy limits?

Or is your energy challenge different altogether?