Thank you for sharing this. I've been feeling out of sorts and overwhelmed[0], and this really resonated.

I generally tend to avoid things like (3) unless sharing them with someone else, and this feels like the reason why, moreso than being a waste of time or generally "not helpful for my mental state". There are plenty other things that I still do, which click as "energy traps" now that I read this - gonna reframe into sources/sinks internally, but still. Thank you.

I will likely lose the location of this comment by the time I've really tested cycling between sink and sources (which should take a few weeks or so at least), but I'm going to spend some time exploring my energy landscape today and see where it takes my well-being.

[0] Work has been nuts, so some of the overwhelm is just normal, but I suspect another portion of overwhelm is well explained by the energy metaphor.

> 2. Identifying energy traps - things you do when you have no energy but don't restore energy. Several examples: 1) Netflix, 2) social media, 3) reddit, 4) youtube

So, do you avoid them now? If so, what do you do when you're tired after work? It's hard to feel entire afternoons with exercise, sleep and conversations...

The ideal cycle you want is focus, rest, focus. It's an energy trap if you get tired from focusing but your rest activity doesn't refresh you back into focus mode.

In my experience, it's not that you replace energy traps with energy recovery - you instead create plans that allow for more focus, rest, focus cycles throughout the day.

If your work drains you completely when you go home, maybe you can try to create some plans for how to approach work holistically, sparing some energy for life outside of work.

For instance, create a plan that ends the work day with a lot of energy to spare by adding in a lot more rest cycles, including naps (laying down with eyes closed also restores energy) and walks. I also find creative outlets like writing or music quite restful, and as others have mentioned, a surprisingly lot of things restore energy - you just have to discover and note them down.

Not the OP, but for me energy restoring activities are “active” ones, like hobbies where you create/build something. Working on a painting, photo, sculpting, writing, working on a side project, playing intelligent games with your dog, ... Passive activities, like consuming TV or Netflix or worse social networks, at least for me are draining my energy levels.

By they definition, isn't going to work an energy restoring activity?

A hobby is something you go out of your way to do because of personal passion. If you approach your job like it's a vacation, then probably.

Wait, if you don't want to do anything once a week you're diagnosed as depressed? How many people don't want to just sit around even once every week?!

The official stance from my psychiatrist was, if you have times where nothing seems that interesting to do or there is no motivation to do normal day to day activities, and that happens regularly (once a week) then you're clinically diagnosed as having minor depression. If you have those several times a week it can be major depression.

Me for one. I find it hard to sit down and watch TV for more than an hour at a time.

I have a foot injury right now and the mental adjustment to sitting more instead of being up and around is...significant.

Not even once a week?

Is your job stimulating or boring? I have a hard time expending energy learning to play games to solve fake problems, when I could be using that energy to solve real problems, including, as you note, my health. Also, raising my kids.

Ironically, what you wrote often explains the misery of work. After all, it's hard expending energy to solve fake problems at work, when there are real and more interesting problems to solve after work.