Get Honest With Your Energy: noticing the drain

Last week, we slowed down enough to listen… to name what’s been heavy… and to get honest about how burnout might be showing up in our lives.

This week? Let’s take it a little further.

We will be asking: “Where is my energy going? Is any of it coming back to me?”

Because the fact is, while the first step toward healing is acknowledging what we often try (or want) to ignore, the next step is to be honest about what your role is, how you are helping… or hurting the situation.

Burnout doesn’t go away just because we pretend everything is fine or remain blind to what’s really going on. It begins to ease only once we find those slow leaks, the energy vampires, the habits and patterns we’ve normalized that are quietly draining us. And this requires radical honesty.

Sometimes burnout isn’t caused just what’s being taken from us. Often, we find ourselves burned out due to what we’re giving away, without even realizing it.

Here are some ways you can find yourself giving too much:

Maybe you say yes when you’re exhausted, and really want (or need) to say no.

Maybe you keep showing up for people who don’t show up for you, trying to push the emotional toll or frustration aside.

Maybe your social media feeds leave you feeling worse, but you spend more time than you’d like to admit scrolling endlessly through your fyp.

Or maybe it’s a little more subtle:

The way you hold tension in your body all day.

The way you never take a full breath unless someone reminds you.

The way you rarely let your body or mind fully rest.

All of it adds up.

And eventually, your overwhelmed brain does what it has to do—

It pulls the emergency brake.

What would it look like, to say no to a situation that you don’t really have the energy for? What would it look like to do something that made you feel at peace within yourself instead?

This week, we pause and look.

Not to fix everything at once, but to start recognizing what’s depleting us, and what has the potential to restore us.

Your Journal Prompt:

Where is your energy going?

What activities, relationships, routines, or habits are draining you?

What gives you even a little sense of relief, peace, or support?

Your Homework:

Draw two columns this week: “Drains Me” and “Restores Me.”

Even if the restore side is small, let it be real.

And then—just one tiny shift.

Say no once.

Delete the app for a day. (Or, download screenzen! It’s free, and I can vouch for it, it’s a great help in spending less time online!)

Take 2 minutes alone in your car before walking inside.

Small actions matter.

Don’t forget:

You don’t owe anyone the version of you that’s running on empty.

This isn’t about overhauling your life in a week.

This is about reclaiming one breath, one boundary, one drop of energy at a time.