The impact of being overly busy is widespread. Our downtime, our relationships, our ability to accomplish the tasks on our list in a quality way are all impacted. Our health suffers under this stress. Some of the symptoms are subtle, such as a slightly lower or excess appetite, vague anxiety and some of them are very serious such as flare ups in autoimmune disease, more frequent illness and insomnia.
Where do you draw the line? Is it the nagging feeling right after you've agreed to another commitment or the longing to get away on the overdue vacation that signals you are reaching the end of your rope? Is it when you truly cannot complete your to do list, ever?
As with our money, we need to budget our energy more wisely. Our energy is a valuable commodity that is replenished by proper exercise, food, and rest. It is also positively impacted by proper regulation of our emotions. These things make up our daily energy and this is similar to our checking account.
What is our savings account? We are born with a certain amount of Jing or essence which determines our long term health and the length of our life. Our day to day needs should come from checkings, not savings. When we do one more thing, stay up one more hour, go to bed late and get up early, or skip lunch then we dip into our savings or Jing and we potentially shorten our life and leave ourselves open to poor health.
My advice. Take a good hard look at where you can say no. Also be careful to keep yourself near the top of your to do list. Regular acupuncture, massage and other therapies create a space of time for yourself and replenishment. Evenings with friends or family or solitude are equally important. We should always have that "emergency fund" of energy for the unexpected.
