Have you ever thought about how much energy you waste on little niggly, irritations? Those little things that you tolerate on a daily basis but that aren’t quite enough of a nuisance to do something about? You know the things I mean, the messy drawer, the tap that drips, the strange noise in the dishwasher, the pile of filing on the corner of your desk, the missing button on your favourite shirt, and the list goes on. While these are all small, insignificant things on their own, together they add up to a major drain on our energy. If you picture that all your energy is held by a polystyrene cup, and each of these irritations are represented with a pin prick, you can see that before long your polystyrene cup resembles a sieve and all your energy is fast disappearing!
So what can you do about it? First start by making a list of all the things that you are currently putting up with. You may like to make two separate lists: one for work and one for home. Don’t be put off if the list gets quite long – this is quite normal, and all part of the process!
Now that you have your list, start addressing them one by one. Different items on your list will require different forms of attack. Some will be better already simply by you becoming aware of them and acknowledging that they are draining for you. Others require a direct action from you to cross them off the list. Some you may be able to delegate to others for action. Others may be communication issues and just talking to the person concerned will eliminate the irritation. In some cases you may realise there is nothing that can be done about an item on your list. In this case just accepting is the solution. By accepting that there is nothing that can be done about it, the irritation will fade away.
Don’t feel you need to fix all the items on your list at once, just choose one or two at a time and slowly but surely work through it. You will be amazed how much better you feel and how much more energy you have with each item you are able to cross off your list!
By Jacqui Thomas
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