A lot of the articles I write are as a result of direct observation or intervention with my clients, both recently and in the past. So again, I thank one of my wonderful clients who reminded me of this energy draining phenomenon.
Not surprisingly, one of the reasons they wanted to work with me is because they felt so ‘low energy’ on a regular basis. We focused on all of the physical things that can drain us of energy (e.g. poor diet, low levels or low quality sleep, limited physical activity, excessive exposure to non-natural EMF’s, bad habits, etc.), and then started looking into the more likely psychological causes of low energy.
It was a fabulous journey back through their life to get a better sense about what might have contributed to, or be the root cause, of the experience they were having in their day-to-day life.
What I noticed – and I have noticed frequently in the past – is the determination to project a particular image of themselves, that they feel is more acceptable or desirous of the people in their life.
But here is what I have observed and hypothesize.
Firstly, we have a pretty poor idea of what is going on inside other peoples heads, so trying to guess what we think the other person wants to see in us (or how we show up) is a GUESS at best. Which we may often get wrong.
Secondly, it turns out that most of us actually have a deeper desire for authenticity and less of a desire for people being fake, duplicitous, flaky, manipulative, etc.
Thirdly (and the main point of this article), it actually takes a LOT more energy to project an image of yourself and then maintain that projection throughout the course of the day. It is actually HUGELY DRAINING to put on an ‘act’ throughout the day. That is why good quality professional actors get paid a lot – because it is hard for them to project an image of someone other than themselves for weeks and months at a time (and not lose their sanity or sense of themselves).
It takes a LOT less energy to show up as YOU.
It might take more courage, but it definitely requires less energy. You don’t need to use brain power to remember who you need to be with whom. You don’t need to enact behaviours that are not natural to you. You don’t need to try and second-guess what you think someone wants to hear from you. You don’t need to be mentally hyper-vigilant to ensure that you are not seen by the wrong person, doing something that you figure they will disapprove of.
It is actually mentally draining for me to imagine all of those scenarios!! 😉
So the questions for you are…
- Are there times and people where you are not comfortable (or have not tried) being YOURSELF?
- Are there times and places where you are PROJECTING an image of yourself, that is costing you precious energy and life force?
- Where in your life do you need to have the courage to be more real, authentic and maybe even vulnerable?
My parting message is this:
You are wonderful just as you are.
Are you perfect?
Probably not. You are probably like the rest of us humans and have some imperfections.
But that makes you you, and me me. 🙂
Today, and forever more BE YOU, and save yourself some wasted energy.
Sending you a big virtual high-five from one seemingly imperfect human being to another (and with the added bonus of knowing on some level that Life/God/Source/Allah loves us regardless.
Have a wonderful and take care,
Carl
PS: Continue to keep an eye out for my emails as I will probably do a free webinar at the end of Feb on how to become more autonomous, bulletproof, and sovereign by starting your own business (and the do’s and don’ts along the way).