When you're driving down the street and you see this on your dashboard, what do you do?
Let me guess. You...
- Ignore it.
- Tell your car to stop being stupid, suck it up, and keep going.
- Tell your car that it can get gas after it gets to to your next destination.
- Think about all the other people who should have taken care of this for you.
- Blame others for your empty gas tank.
6. Just fill the gas tank?
My guess is that your typical choice is #6. It's possible you spend time blaming others for using your car and using up your gas, but chances are even if that comes up, you inevitably go to the gas station and deal with the situation.
And why is that?
Because your car freaking needs gas and that's a clear situation you have to and can fix (assuming you have a gas station in your vicinity, and a few bucks to throw at the meter).
If you don't fill up your gas tank, most likely this is what is going to happen next:
Yup, you're going to be stuck on the side of the road, out of luck, potentially with only a toddler to give you a hand. Luckily, this is the type of thing that is easily avoided by regularly refueling your tank well before the light even comes on!
This is the same exact thing that's needed for us humans. We all need refueling. Chances are you are well acquainted with the fact that we all need to eat food and drink water. These are requirements of human functioning.
That's not all, though. We also need:
- sleep
- affection
- recognition
- hobbies
- creativity
- pursuits
- goals
- interests
- entertainment
- connection
- among other things!
- Emotional refueling
- Intellectual refueling
- Connection refueling
- Centering refueling
- This supports and validates your current emotional state and well-being
- Activities to refuel your emotional well-being
- Journaling
- Calling a friend and sharing your current worries and triumphs
- Yoga
- Listening to music
- Watching an uplifting or meaningful movie
- Cuddling with pets
- Hugging
Intellectual Refueling
- This supports your intellectual pursuits and personal growth
- Activities to refuel your intellectual well
- Reading - novels, nonfiction, magazines
- Finding new blogs to read
- Watching political debates or the news
- Learning a new language
- Learning about a different culture
- Traveling
- Setting goals
Connection Refueling
- This supports your connection to other people and to the world
- Activities to refuel your connection to the world
- Organize a dinner or potluck
- Call a friend
- Go to a dance class
- Exercise in a public place where there are others exercising
- Say "hi" to a stranger
- Volunteer at a local animal shelter, soup kitchen, or other organization
- Plan a trip to visit family
- Bake something for your neighbors or invite them over for dinner/drinks
- Go to a local sports event or happy hour
Centering Refueling
- This supports your connection to yourself, your dreams and wishes, and your higher power, if you choose to identify with one
- Activities to refuel your ability to stay centered
- Meditate, meditate, meditate
- Play an instrument
- Paint
- Draw
- Sing
- Go to a yoga class
- Visit a spiritual place - a church, temple, synagogue
- Enjoy nature - the mountains, the beach, a quiet trail
- Pray
If you practice "topping off" your emotional well-being tanks regularly, instead of waiting for your body to crash with illness or stress or emotional freak outs, you will be far, far better off. You can start working on this today!
Practice one form of refueling from the above lists once a day. Pick an activity that sounds fun and try it out! Use your emotions as your guide to what best helps refuel you and list any other refueling activities you enjoy in the comments below :)
I find that I treat "sleeping" and "eating" as equivalent to refueling a car (non-negotiable, and impossible to put off til later). Maybe "exercising" would be next on my list. I haven't been so good about proactively "topping off my tank" in any of the other ways, though. I want to figure out how to make that a more natural, automatic habit.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea. The best way to do this is to identify things that you like doing, that you put off for later 99% of the time. Make a list of 5-10 things that you enjoy doing, and then schedule yourself those activities. Depending on the size of the activity, you might schedule it daily or weekly or monthly.
ReplyDeleteIf you really enjoy making yourself eggs in the morning, wake up 30 minutes early on a couple of days this week to do that for yourself. If you really enjoy going hiking, schedule a hike for this weekend. And so on - identify the size of the pleasant activity, then schedule it according to its size and how realistic it is for you to manage it in your current schedule. Then, treat it like a mandatory business meeting - no cancelling or postponing allowed! Enjoy :)