Rising energy costs are certainly on all our minds but I am talking about our own energy levels and how much we choose to direct our energy at at social media and news updates. It is certainly challenging sometimes to lift my own focus away from all the troubling and uncertain news around us.
The locus of control is where we choose to direct our energy. I’d like to invite you (and myself) to gently bring that back to active choices we can make each day.
When we are dealing with uncertainty or upsetting situations, it is completely natural to want to talk, post, voice views and opinions. Our brains are already hard-wired to look for the negative anyway and when we have the level of uncertainty that we have now and have had for coming up to three years, it is natural to do this more as are brains seek more and more information as a way of protecting ourselves.
When we start to spend large portions of our time doing this, it becomes unhealthy and not good for mental health or wellbeing. In fact, it feeds into anxiety and stress more than the situation itself! We start to overthink and overanalyse things that are not even happening.
If we can, instead, learn to put our energy into the things that we CAN control about a situation, we not only feel better instantly but we actually can start to exert some influence into the very things we cannot control. It requires huge effort sometimes though – it is often so much easier to react, to post that comment, to respond to that email and to voice our view.
Watch Emma Sue explain the locus of control here.
Most of our wellbeing is in our hands. It may sound slightly controversial to say but it’s never the situation that is causing us stress or anxiety but rather our chosen response to it. We really can learn how to respond and choose where to place our energy. This week I made a decision to curate my social media – start unfollowing negative posts, needless advertising and endless group reminders and just to look at it less. An action that is firmly within my control and allows me to free up my energy for other things.
How to harness your energy – watch for quick tips.
