What to Do When You’re In A Slump

Do you feel like you should have an endless supply of energy?

No matter the season, or your workload, or your number of kids, do you always want to feel energetic and able to do everything on your to do list?

You’re not alone.

It can be a hard pill to swallow, but expecting ourselves to always have the same level of energy is not realistic and often leads to us beating ourselves up when we do feel sluggish.

Learning to accept the ebbs and flows of our energy is important. If we accept it, we’ll be gentler on ourselves, which in turn will eventually give us more energy.

Funny how that works right?

So what can you do on the days you’re in a slump?

Be gentle with yourself

If a friend came over to your house and told you she was feeling exhausted, would you yell at her “Too bad. Do the dishes, fold the laundry and get on your work Slack now!” We both know the answer to that.

If you’re feeling low on energy, check in with yourself. Ask yourself what you feel you could get done today and where you can fit in rest breaks. Adjustments can be made despite your original plan.

And if there’s a deeper reason for the slump – a sleepless night or pushing yourself too hard in general for example, set some time aside to review the issues you’re having.

You can adjust your list to reflect what’s happening and avoid more sluggish days in the future.

Appreciate what you had and will have again

When we’re feeling low on energy we often declare the day is a write off, or worry that we’ll feel sluggish all week.

It is totally normal to have dips in energy and if you look back at all you got done a few days before, you can count on the fact that you’ll be back to a more energetic level soon.

Try and move some of your tasks from today to a future day when you’re feeling better.

If you were planning to relax on Sunday, maybe you can bring that relaxation time forward and move some to do list tasks to the Sunday when you’ll likely be feeling better.

Do one small thing

Many of us do enjoy the feeling of “being productive”, so giving yourself that little hit of getting a task done can also snowball into more energy for you (but it’s also fine if it doesn’t!)

Put some great music on while you empty the dishwasher, or have a Netflix show on in the background while you send some work emails.

You’ll know you’ve kept the wheels of life moving, with a little enjoyment along the way.

When you wake up with little energy or feel it disappearing after lunch, do your best not to freak out and worry that something has gone wrong.

Energy levels will forever go up and down, and if you learn to accept that, you will be less surprised and also less tough on yourself.

There are so many tweaks you can make to ensure you still get everything done while honouring how your body and mind feel.