Monday Morning Inspiration: Exhaustion Shouldn’t Be An Excuse

A lot of you ask me, “Dang, when do you sleep?” And I usually answer, “I don’t.” Which is true. But I’m working on getting better about it.

We only get a certain amount of energy during the day. I know that when I get a good night’s sleep, I’m at my best from about 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. During those hours, I can conquer the world. I’ve had enough time to wake up fully, digest breakfast and start my day. And then after 5 p.m. or so, I’m a little tired from all that world-conquering.

I’m learning to conserve my energy. If you’re too tired to do the things that matter, then maybe you’re spending your time doing too many things that don’t matter.

I’ll admit—sometimes I’m up way too late because I’m looking at recipes on Pinterest, not working. Or I’m having a Facebook convo with a friend who lives clear across the country. Or I’m just watching episodes of my favorite TV show on Hulu because I want to laugh for a bit before I go to sleep.

But then, when it’s time to wake up in the morning, I’m groggy. I’m tired. I don’t want to do anything. My kids wake up and they’re all “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! We want pancakes for breakfast! Oatmeal! Orange juice! Bacon!” I drag myself out of bed, cursing the fact that I stayed up too late.

But it’s not just late-night TV watching or Pinterest addiction that sucks up your energy. It’s also about emotional energy, which is what I’ve really had to fight to get control over.

Emotional energy is when you’re mad at your kids because you’ve had to repeat yourself three times just to get them to put shoes on so you could go to the store. Emotional energy is when you’re frustrated at work because your co-workers aren’t pulling their weight. Emotional energy is when you’re stressed about an assignment that crept up on you in the midst of everything else.

Emotional energy has its place, but it really serves to drain us of physical energy. How do you feel after you have a fight with your partner? Usually pretty tired. How do you feel after spending a long day with kids who seem to do the opposite of what you say? Usually you’re ready to crash.

I find that I have more energy even with less sleep because I’m letting things roll off my back. I’m focused on what I have to do to keep my life humming along and those little potholes in the way are just annoyances, not dealbreakers. Exhaustion is real, but for most mommies, it doesn’t enable us to check into a hospital and recover like most celebrities do. So we have to find ways to manage it so we can keep going—raising wonderful children, graduating with honors, building an incredible business, nurturing our growing relationships.

So my advice is to keep an eye out for those emotional lows that rob you of energy. Try to stay balanced. You don’t have to respond to every stressful situation. Keep it moving.