Energy Creates Energy
People ask me all the time how I do so many things, have so much energy, and if I ever get tired. While the answer to the latter is of course YES I am a human, I wanted to share some strategies I use to stay energized in order to tackle even the longest days!
1. Sleep: Sleep is extremely important to your health. I'm no scientist but read The Ripple Effect if you want some research to back me up. I am not a fan of the #TeamNoSleep culture of overworking; it's not healthy, not sustainable, and will make you less productive in the long run. I personally am a morning person and so I feel best when I go to bed between 9-11pm and wake up between 6-8am. That said, this sleep schedule isn't always possible due to late night rehearsals, gigs, etc. which is why I wish humans didn't need sleep!!! Such a waste of time!! If I could keep going non-stop forever without getting tired I would be so happy :)
2. Exercise multiple times a day: I find that I only get tired when I stop physically moving. This is honestly how I've gotten to my current fitness level; I don't work out multiple times a day to burn more calories, I do it because I need the energy!! When I worked a full-time job, in a typical day I would bike to work, workout at lunch, go to a dance class, go for a run, and then go to Argos Cheer practice. This day would be 7am-11pm. I couldn't do this every single day obviously (I wish!!), but the point is I needed the run and dance class after work in order to keep me energized for Argos. If I just went home to chill, I would get tired and then feel like crap going to practice.
3. Do things that you love: For me that thing is dance. Dance gives me SOO much energy. Even just the anticipation of getting to dance later gives me energy and motivation. It's truly what gets me up in the morning; looking forward to a class or rehearsal or gig. I think it's so interesting how when I was working full-time I would wake up around 7am and feel so tired and did not want to get out of bed, but for dance I can wake up even earlier and bounce right out of bed no problem. If you're finding you're more tired than usual, maybe you just aren't fuelling your soul with the activities you love!
Energy creates energy; if you are waiting for a boost of energy to suddenly come along to motivate you to workout, you might be waiting forever! I don't workout because I feel super energized; I feel super energized BECAUSE I worked out. It doesn't have to be anything crazy; go for a jog around the corner, do a few pushups, dance to your favourite song, anything that gets you moving!