Most, if not all of us, are being affected by the economy. Some of us are reevaluating how we spend our money and asking hard questions about needs versus wants.
Just as we all have limited financial resources that must be allocated wisely, we also have limited emotional resources. Finding balance in your life means learning where your emotional resources are being spent.
We want to have a clean home, family time, excel at our jobs, nurture our relationships, and have personal time. Our wants are numerous and often conflict with our needs and resources.
This is where we begin to understand that our emotional bank account is just as real as our financial bank account. Anyone who has bounced a check knows how bad it feels.
By following a few simple steps, you can take control of your emotional resources.
1 Make a list: Start by listing everything you think you need to do in the next week. This would include family, work and personal commitments.
2 Use a daily format: use a page for each day and start writing.
3 Label your list: Come back now and next to each task write down whether it’s for your family, your job, your personal life, or a combination.
4 Time your list: Again, make a notation next to each task assigning how long it will take you to complete each one.
5 Evaluate your list: How many items on your list belong to family, work, or personal time? How many minutes or hours will it take to complete each task?
6 Rate your list: This is where you need to be very honest with yourself. Of those tasks, which ones make you feel good and which ones make you feel bad or anxious?
This exercise will often show you where your resources are being emotionally depleted and help you clarify the tasks that cause you the most anxiety. People often find that the time it takes to complete everything on their list in one day exceeds the 24-hour mark.
No wonder we’re exhausted and we’re writing emotional checks that are doomed to bounce. Being clear about how much emotional reserve you have is the key to achieving balance.
Just as you would never continue to receive bounced checks in your financial account, you will now be able to allocate your emotional energy wisely and responsibly.
In essence, you are now ready to say “no” to spending emotional resources you don’t have, just as you say no to spending money you don’t have. In both cases, it means that he will have to reduce some areas of his life, but he will find that he will sleep better at night.
Being honest with yourself and being clear about how you feel is the key to replacing that feeling of exhaustion that you now experience with another feeling, peace.