The Indicator Light of Energy

Remember the last post about exhaustion and the holidays....well here we are in the midst of it. Christmas is over, and now we are cleaning, organizing, planning, and getting ready to usher the new year in. It is all positive, optimistic, and rewarding.

But we are still in the unstructured pattern of the holidays.

This morning I woke up not sure what day it was, my responsibilities, my commitments, it was all overwhelming. As I made my coffee, I got a quick visual in my head:

My energy indicator was lit up warning me.

Low energy. Brake. Check in. 

So I did. How did I do that?

I told a friend at work that my indicator light went off. 

I thought about my energy use for the rest of the day.

I packed a lunch to be sure I had fuel.

I delegated and let go of the little things. 

By letting someone in on my energy level, she was able to watch my back. She did it without much to do, but she was able to help me take my own edge off. By thinking about how much energy I had, I was able to not get frustrated and overwhelmed. I ate on time and didn't feel depleted. I felt like I was able to accomplish a lot without using my energy due to delegating (I had movers come clean out a room at the spa today, hired a painter, asked my assistant to do all my marketing tasks, and had made a list of to dos at home that all got done, like the Christmas tree is down). That's a tall order for someone on empty.

Learn to see your warning light and listen to the alert. Then have a plan to correct easily.

Your tool to use is The 50 Point Energy Plan.

Holiday Energy Plan: How to Avoid the Jungle of Exhaustion

I know you have a plan for the holidays: a gift list, a card list, a calendar of events.

But have you planned your energy? Time to start.

You have 50 points a day to spend on energy. Just because it is the holidays does not mean that you can spend your energy wildly. To do so will put you into energy depletion, which will then lead to you getting sick.

This is the 7th Christmas the spa has been open. The first 5 years I led my staff into a jungle of exhaustion. "This way," I encouraged and showed them how my exhaustion led to my sudden illness every season. Around the New Year, I would get violently ill with the worst flu like symptoms.

This is my visual of the jungle of exhaustion.

Now, I plan my energy points around the holidays, and I plan the spa points too.

To stay healthy this is what we do at the spa.

• We do not schedule spa services on Christmas Eve Day. 
• We are closed Christmas Day and the day after.
• We schedule a holiday party for January so we aren't cramming too much in an already crazy month.
• We use hospital grade disinfection on all surfaces daily to keep every client and staff member healthy.
• We make time to get treatments and feel good about ourselves.
• We don't stress about caloric intake and gluten for a week or two.
• We communicate about energy. We ask each other how everyone is feeling. If someone is able to verbalize they are overwhelmed, we listen. 

This is where I lead my team now.

We are happier, healthier, and better able to give the spa treatments we want to give and make connections with each client when we are traveling down this path. 

Use your energy in a way that fits you. 

My friends want me to do the plan for them.

You know you are on to something when one of your best friends from out of state calls you and says,
"Sara, I am totally overwhelmed and have gotten sick this week. I need you to do the plan with me".

This is the perfect example of noticing that the plan needs to be done. It is these moments where we are aware that our energy is depleted, are noticing physical symptoms, and need to get out of bottom dead center.

While she sat in her car, we reviewed her 5 energy pods and figured out where she is mismanaging her energy points.

Want to know where she is depleted and what she needs to do? Stay tuned.....I will let you know next blog post!

Crazy Idea

If my father has a catch phrase, it's "Listen to my crazy idea".

I grew up in a house where crazy ideas were good, and when he said these words, I would always lean in a little closer.

He taught me to have Crazy Ideas  (CI) and to share them.

My current CI is this:

If you have a social security card, as soon as you turn a certain age, say 15, you get a voucher on your birthday to use at a spa/wellness center. Make it a $50 voucher, Happy Birthday from Uncle Sam. You can then use this voucher at places that meet the governments regulations (blah blah blah) and the spa/wellness center can then have a reimbursement system. An easy one.

I have pitched this idea to a state senator even. He rolled his eyes, but this is why I like it.

• It proves that the government cares about the individual.
• It is equal.
• It is powerful to be touched, especially on days that have meaning.
• It would cut down on crime.
• It would reduce health care costs.
• It would introduce the whole population to positive wellness prevention.
• It is fun. 
• It would stir the economy up.

Trust me, there will be more crazy ideas to come. And I hope you lean in.

Sara

The Plan in the News!

http://physical-therapy.advanceweb.com/Archives/Article-Archives/Positive-Energy.aspx

My love/hate relationship......

I love and hate the term "wellness".

I love my concept of wellness, which is being balanced enough to make rational decisions and judgements to keep you from going into chronic energy depletion. That to me is being well.

Insurance companies, corporate America, and others have turned the term wellness into a garbage bin definition  of what they are trying to sell you. Wellness models, wellness practices, wellness strategies. They sound ok, but there is little meaning or substance behind it unless you are focused on prevention.

And to focus on prevention, you have to get way, way, way ahead of it. I take care of myself as a Type I diabetic so that I can prevent complications that can happen 60 years from the original diagnosis. That's a long time to be preventing, and a long view of wellness.

As a physical therapist, all I was doing was treating the pathology that I felt could have been prevented if I had just gotten my hands on you sooner! Doing straight leg raises and ROM after a stroke was not rewarding enough for me. I wanted my client to never have ever been in that place.

I had to leave traditional medicine and my clinical practice in order to practice true wellness. I had to get the insurance companies out of my way, create a spa environment that clients wanted to be in, and use my skills to keep you away from disability. To keep you doing the things you love at 85 years old, I need to see you at 40 for monthly massages.

My mission and passion is to get you to take care of you, to be balanced, and to not think of wellness services like massage as a luxury. You are worth it.