“Being an adult is pretty easy. You just feel tired all the time and tell other people how tired you are and they tell you how tired they are” – Aaron Gillies

Right?

Not having the energy you’d like feels like a drag.  I mean that literally – you’re dragging yourself through your day, feeling like you’re slogging through mud. Physical tiredness can affect your mental sharpness. It’s harder to focus, and your productivity goes way down. It takes longer to get the same amount done. Not meeting your own expectations, it’s easy to get down on yourself.  Or, the stuff you “have to do” gets what little energy you have, and you miss out on the stuff you actually want to do – like getting together with friends, or hitting the gym. It would be fine if everyone in your life could just slow down to match your pace. But of course, that deadline isn’t going to magically push out a couple of days, dinner isn’t going to make itself, and the dog is still going to insist on a walk.

Luckily, there’s a solution to that: coffee and sugar! Yes!

Wait – no.

While those things might provide a temporary boost, you end up feeling tired and wired. And that makes it even harder to fall asleep at night, which of can tip you from tired to exhausted. Not awesome. Over the years, I’ve been tired from stress, depression, life, mysterious digestive issues, chronic inflammation, and hormone imbalances that made my body forget how to sleep – all of which were frustrating and confusing on top of tiring. I also used to be a master at overriding my body’s need for rest, making my days longer and my nights shorter in the name of productivity with caffeine and sugar, and carrying around some extra pounds (and a whole lot of guilt) as a result.  So why are you tired?  (And don’t say it’s just because you’re “getting old” — I hear people as young as 30 saying things like this – and age rarely has much to do with it.)

Some things that could be bogging down your energy include:

Gut / Food related stuff:

  • Missing nutrients: whether due to lack of nutrient-rich food or inability to digest it
  • Poor digestion and absorption: you can’t make use of what you can’t digest
  • Inflammation: made worse by stress, sugar, food sensitivities lack of sleep
  • Constipation: carrying around yesterday’s waste is a drag on your energy and your Liver

Stress, Emotions, and Outlook:

  • Perpetually triggering the fight-or-flight response is an expensive, hormone-draining process
  • Putting up with people who (literally) drain you, or going to job you hate can literally suck the life out of you
  • Depression, grief, sadness, boredom: weariness of the spirit translates into the body

Not enough rest or movement:

  • Poor sleep or overriding your body’s need for rest can lead to chronic fatigue
  • Lack of movement: oxygen is key for cellular metabolism
  • Not having an energy cultivation practice like qi gong

Your body is busy without you knowing it:

  • Fighting off pathogens, allergens, molds,
  • Trying to cope with toxins from drugs, plastics, pesticides, herbicides, the environment

You’re out of sync with nature. There are optimal times to digest, rest, and work according to our circadian cycles. The good news is it doesn’t have to be this way. Maybe looking at this list, you’ve identified why you’re so tired. If so, take a moment and commit to doing one thing differently that will help make it better.

Be good to yourself,

Brodie

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