My days are often productive. It’s actually strange if I don’t accomplish something significant in a given day.
I get up early, take care of what is important to me, then rest soundly.
I love my life.
However, on some days, I succumb to some energy depleters.
I thought I would share the top offenders with you today.
Not that these are horrible things, but, I feel that there are benefits to paying attention to how they affect you with some self-experimentation.
1) Alcohol
Consuming alcohol can be fun. It lightens the mood, loosens you up, but for me, it’s one of the main productivity killers.
I don’t drink a whole lot. However, during the holidays, I decided to buy a couple beers.
I zapped the remainder of my “extra curricular” budget, and bought 2 tall bottles of Corona. I got through them rather quickly, and then had a couple bottles of Coors Lite offered by family members.
All the women in my family, and some men, drink Coors Lite. I grew up drinking it.
I don’t tolerate it like I used to. Drinking tires me.
This night I felt very drowsy.
I believe that, without much doubt, it was the beers that made me extremely tired way earlier than normal. Besides, we didn’t have any turkey, notorious for sleepiness. And our meal was light.
It was the brews.
So, I crashed early, and slept waaay in.
You see, for the majority of 2016 I was getting up regularly by 6 or 7 a.m. without an alarm, and getting right to stretching, breathing deep, and consuming pure clean water.
That wasn’t how I would describe the morning after the drinking though. I slept until about noon. I skipped my healthy routines, dragged my butt, kept to myself, and did quite a bit of “nothing” that next day.
I could justify it and say that I don’t need to be productive everyday.
But I can be productive everyday, and I want to be.
Bottom line. For me, alcohol is an energy zapper.
2) Masturbation
Like alcohol, there can be lots of pleasure in masturbation.
But truth be told, having experimented with zero masturbation for 30 days, and making no other obvious changes in my routine, I could say that abstaining from masturbation gave me lots more time back, and plenty of energy to boot.
I read about sexual transmutation in Think and Grow Rich, and have dabbled with it, but this was the first time going a full month.
It was a tough challenge for me as I became used to ending my day that way.
It was a fun and interesting experiment.
I learned a lot about myself, and realized more tools that I already possess to increase energy. Or, at the very least, not deplete it rapidly.
I realize that they say “losing energy” this way generally just affects men, but I am living proof that women are affected as well. Well, at least one of us.
3) Food & Drink
Food, the wrong kinds at least, can be a huge energy zapper.
Most of us know that already.
The right foods, of course, can encourage more energy. Sometimes quick bursts of energy, sometimes sustained energy.
Pasta, even brown rice pasta, doesn’t work for me. I get a strange uncomfortable feeling, then I have the strong desire to nap afterwards.
Coffee, surprisingly, has a great sustained effect on my energy levels. It’s not the crash and burn effect that many people describe.
I buy organic or BulletProof coffee. I don’t use sugar, except sometimes Xylose. And I add either coconut oil or Brain Octane, and I blend in some grass fed butter. It tastes wonderful and increases my energy levels.
I use two other energy drinks in my day, both from Vega. The Iced Tea Clean Energy product is wonderful.
I have stopped consuming the Orange Monster Ultra Sunrise drinks for the most part. I enjoyed the carbonation and the pop-like taste, and the wonderful energy. But I also know it’s not the best decision for me to drink those. Besides, I can sill get fizziness from fermented drinks, and cleaner energy in other ways.
Also, fresh green smoothies and fresh green juices are wonderful for sustained energy.
And I find snacks made with chia seeds do as is suggested… provide sustained energy throughout the day.
4) Television
I do not own a TV, nor do I want to.
However, I do own a computer, and setting up a free 1-month Netflix subscription only takes a minute.
And binge TV-watching feels like a must-do when subscribed to Netflix. It’s easy to get hooked.
And while it may seem like you are reserving energy because you are just sitting there, or laying there… but for me… it just encouraged more sitting and laying around.
I was subject to what Tony Robbins talks about. I was getting some of my basic human needs met, which include certainty and uncertainty, tricking me into thinking I was living “real life”.
I felt content.
But it just drained me.
I did this recently. I watched 10 hours of straight TV.
Mind you, this was the day after drinking. Plus, I ate poorly. And I masturbated a lot that day.
It’s not productive to live that way for me.
Strangely though, many people do.
My family for example has a typical routine of: TV during all waking hours, poor eating, lots of drinking and smoking and marijuana. And lots of crash and burn sugar.
It’s not for me.
But regressing for a a day or two each year doesn’t make me feel bad.
But it made me feel compelled to share.
I hope it was helpful in some fashion.
Enjoy 2017!
Raw Michelle is a natural health blogger and researcher, sharing her passions with others, using the Internet as her medium. She discusses topics in a straight forward way in hopes to help people from all walks of life achieve optimal health and well-being. SUBSCRIBE here to get more from Raw Michelle!