Reaching Past The Caffeine

It's the end of the second week of school, when all of our various activities have fully started, I felt quite tired and unmotivated when I woke up this morning.

All I was thinking about was caffeine, when I could take a nap, and if I really needed to do the work that I have scheduled for today :)

When my "How We Feel" app asked me how I was feeling at 8:55, I marked myself as "Meh," which is in the low energy, unpleasant quadrant.

Lack of motivation.
Lack of inspiration.
Lack of energy.

Instead of falling into that feeling, I decided to counteract it with movement.

According to Dr Julie Smith in her book Why Had Nobody Told Me This Before exercise has a potent antidepressant effect, because it releases dopamine, that addictive hormone that we crave whenever we check our status updates.

Due to my lack of motivation and energy, I knew a "workout" wasn't going to happen.

Instead, I decided to stretch. It's movement, but without sweating, or having to change clothes 😀

After my stretch, I feel more energy, have a cup of herbal tea, and have a sunnier disposition as I look ahead at today's tasks.

How are you feeling as you read this message?



P.S. I'll put the link to the How We Feel app in the comments. It's a great way to increase your emotional literacy and to see patterns.

Originally posted on LinkedIn with comments.

Read Deeper Not Faster