CwL Ep99: Your energy is currency

Hey, it’s Lisa Corduff. Welcome to the podcast where you can expect inspiring, raw, energising, and transformative conversations with people on the path of personal evolution. I’m here to really live my life. And if you are too, these conversations are just for you. I’m really glad you’re here. Enjoy.

Hey, an episode from me to break up our stories of change. Episode 99 of the conversations podcast, and there’s a special 100th episode next week, but for now, I just wanted to share a little reflection with you and what has now also become completely undeniable as the most talked about topic when I bump into people on the street, at the cafe, at school drop off. So I wonder if it’s going to resonate for you. And I think the thing just recently for me, I had a weekend where I really wasn’t feeling good and I had a weekend where I did practically nothing. So I had my mom and my sister and my boyfriend step in and do the kids, help around the house, cook for me.

And I literally, I mean, on the Saturday, I was in bed pretty much the whole day. I didn’t leave the house. Sunday, I did, but that was just for an event with the kids, pretty low key. Other than that, I didn’t cook a meal, take care of my children or do any housework. And it was a real revelation in terms of, I can’t even remember the last time something like that happened. The people around me could really see that I was, I was struggling with my health and with my energy. And this is really the thing that I wanted to talk about because on the Monday, after having that restful weekend, I felt kind of almost dizzy with energy, like, “Wow, okay. I talk about rest a lot, but there’s definitely some things going down with my body since I had COVID,” and have also just had some test results, reveal my iron levels. I’m not too sure if you heard last year, I shared that my iron levels were extremely dangerously low last year.

And I did some things on the back of that. I thought I was doing the things and they have crashed even further than that. So getting onto that and managing my iron, which is also… It’s just so critically important. And I encourage everyone here who might be feeling really, really low in energy. For me, it also is like, I can get out of breath quite quickly. I fatigue fast. I can feel a bit down about that. And my body’s just working really, really hard to do the normal things, let alone recover from COVID recover from a really nasty virus that I had after that. And a few other sort of knocks to my health that happened, and I need my iron levels to be pumped right back up again.

So it’s always good to investigate that persistent, physical, low energy, but, and so literally I think everyone should do that. And from some anecdotal stuff, definitely no up from science journals and don’t take my word for it, iron can be really messed with during COVID. So, even if you have previously felt like it’s under control could be worth having a little investigation around. I get blood work done every year anyway. So just wanted to share with you in case it helps.

But I feel like since we came out of lockdowns last year, I have never been more tuned in to my energy levels. And I feel like the topics of conversation that I’m having are really around this, I feel wiped or literally I’m feeling exhausted or I’m not keeping up. I feel really overwhelmed. I’m tired. Our kids are tired. These are the types of conversations that I’m having just with people who I bump into. And for someone who used to think, look, I’ve just got to get done and I’ll push through, I’ve really changed that. The level of tolerance I have for feeling tired or depleted is zero. I do not want that in my life. I prioritise rest. I really keep things very, very simple for myself in my life, so that I’m not walking around like a hot mess, stressed out, not best version of Lisa. I’m just not interested in living a life like that.

So I’m always looking for ways to streamline, to simplify, to take tasks off the list or make things easier for myself. And it’s really because I know my energy is currency. I need it for the things that are important to me. And so do you, we all do. And it was like the last few years kind of reset us in terms of just what we’re actually capable of in terms of our energy every day and you know, what is actually sustainable. So all the people who have recently had to be going back to work. My brother messaged the other day saying, gosh, his boss is now expecting them to be back in the office five days a week.

We had a member inside Live the Change, say, “Oh, I’m feeling a bit tender today because I’ve just been told it’s back to the office.” And there’s this expectation that then means, “Oh, the commute. Oh, kids dropped off early or picked up late,” or, “Oh, okay. A level of planning for my lunches, even that I just haven’t had to really consider.” Not as much space in, my day for me to just drop to the floor and do some downward dogs. Getting dressed properly again. And the decisions that have to be made on the back of that. It’s so much, right? So many changes. And I was saying it to someone this morning at the cafe, she was actually saying, didn’t realise she followed me on social media. And she was saying, “I love everything you’ve been sharing lately about making life easier because I thought it was just me,” and we were just talking and her daughter started prep, was it year or the year before? Or, anyway, I can’t remember.

And she, and I said, remember when your kid started school and how much that kind of flipped everything on its head and it felt a little bit exciting and then it sort of became the norm. And then you just really kind of waiting for holiday to roll around again. But it’s a really big change. There’s a lot that changes and kids get really, really tired. I know they’re only little, but those transition weeks where they’re only doing four days a week so necessary because so much more is being asked of them. To sit in a class, to take in all that sensory information to be making friends, to be away from parents. If they’re not used to doing that. To eating lunch from a lunch box, all sorts of things, there’s all sorts of things that change.

And it’s a really big transition. And I feel like the moves in and out of lockdown, the expectation that might not be happening anymore, that we’ve got to go about our lives now, it’s actually a way bigger transition than we may have acknowledged for ourselves and for our families. I know for my youngest child, this is her first-ever non-interrupted term of school. And this is her third year of schooling. The first two years, there was a lockdown, a disruption, every single term. And when you think about it like that, that’s their life, but our lives were so deeply interrupted and so turned on their head and it still is, it’s not as though it’s all over.

Are we really going, are we going to go back to spending all our energy feeling depleted? We can’t go back to the way it was a few years ago, but I can feel myself trying. I can see a lot of other people trying, but we need to acknowledge that our energy supply, it’s not endless. It’s not endless. And I know that like, not just because I have practically nonexistent iron stores and iron levels, but just generally and even if we do have really high energy and we get through our day and we’re eating well, and we’re exercising, we’re doing all those sorts of things. I feel like many of us have started to think, “Well, where do I want to spend that energy? Why am I caught up in this endless to-do list again? How’s this happened? I thought I’d learned things. Why can’t I say no, I told myself, I was going to say no? I kind of missed the slower pace.”

I had quite a few people say, “Oh look a week of lockdown wouldn’t be so bad because then I wouldn’t have to do this and this and this and this.” And it’s like, well, what are we creating for ourselves then? Are we exercising those choices that we have that we feel like we don’t anymore in a way that really serves our energy, which is our currency to living a good, wholesome life. Is it normal to be spent at the end of every day? Is it normal to fall to bits when you get on holidays because you’ve just been going so hard? What are we actually doing here?

But the thing is there is a context to our lives. I can’t, I don’t want to stop parenting my three kids or having a friendship network that nourishes me or spending time with my partner or seeing my family or running this business. I want all the things. So amongst all that, is it possible to create more ease, to protect our energy? What is actually sucking it up anyway can sometimes be unrealistic expectations that we have of ourselves in terms of what is achievable. What the standard is for doing this well. That’s an energy freaking drain right there.

So I just wanted to share that with you, that your energy is your currency, that sometimes it’s worth looking at where you are spending it also investigating the opportunities to create more ease. In a survey I did recently with followers on socials, we had hundreds of results of women when I was like, “What, if things could be easier, if you could wave a magic wand and things could be easier, what would change?” And it was all sorts of things, but really a lot of it was about like, “I just, I would just like things to feel calmer. I would just like to feel content with my life. I’d like it to feel less rushed. I’d like less to load.” And that was why I created 30 Days, 30 Ways to Make Life Easier.

If you haven’t seen it, I created a really awesome audio series. It goes for 30 days, it’s actually kicked off, but you can still join now. And in fact, if you join now, I’ve also got an amazing little bonus available to you for this special launch period. And then just little three to five minute audios with a whole stack of ways that you like are available to you to make your life easier. Some very, very practical, and they don’t take long. Some are mindset related. There’s a whole mixture of things. Some is just about helping yourself feel calm in a moment.

There are stacks in there and it’s an amazing 30-day experience because it doesn’t, there’s ways we actively participate in making things harder for ourself as well. Sometimes we just need to ask ourselves different questions about life in order to create a ripple effect of change. Sometimes it just takes being aware, “Oh my Gosh. Yes, I totally could do that. And that would absolutely change my mornings.” Or, “Whoa. Yes. I don’t have to be making those decisions over and over and over again.” Or, “Ah, that’s why I get so overwhelmed in those moments and here’s what I can do to centre myself. Whoa, yes, that does make life feel easier.”

That’s what the 30 days is going to be all about. And I feel like even if there were just two or three things that you implemented or you tried, or that gave you a big shift, it’s so totally out outrageously worth it because in this time where most of us are feeling some sort of weird depletion that we can’t really understand, which there’s so many people writing such interesting things about where humans are at right now, but will leave it to them to discuss, but I know for me experiencing big grief in the moment that I was going through things, I was sort of almost high functioning my way through it because it was just so unbelievable and so full on.

And then it was when things kind of got a little bit quieter or that particular heightened time disappeared that then I actually had to give myself the opportunity to feel all my feelings about it and actually process it and sit with it, move through it instead of just kind of keep it somewhere and do all the things that were necessary to keep all the balls in the air that needed to be kept in the air, but eventually it’s going to happen. And I feel like that’s the same with the last few years. A lot of grief about what was lost and what we’ve had to manage, how our brains have changed.

And we actually dove straight back into summer holidays and Christmas and doing the things and back to school and now back to work and raised expectations from people around us about what we can do. I mean, speaking to this woman today, she was talking about being in HR and just like, “Okay. The business has decided that things are a go,” and no one’s actually really geared up for that. That is real. That is not just you. This is happening to many, many people. And I feel like there needs to be a moment where we catch our breath. I aim to do that every day, try to create little pockets for myself, and fill myself back up.

And I do that by making my life as simple and easy as possible amongst the things that have to get done. I’m not a magical unicorn living in a castle. I drop my kids to it from school, I’m doing the extracurriculars with them. I’m getting dinner on the table most nights, thinking about shopping on the weekend, but there are so many ways we can make that stuff easier for ourselves. So many ways we can protect our energy and use it for what matters, which is that stuff. Let’s be honest, but I’m not going to feel depleted at the end of every day. At the end of every week, we can opt-out of that craziness, just take a step by step. Implement small little things and see what changes. I’d love you to join in 30 Days, 30 Ways To Make Life Easier. I created it for you. If you have resonated with anything that I have said in this podcast, you’re going to love it.

And it’s not meant to add more to your to-do list. It’s literally something you could listen to while you brush your teeth or on your commute. Really it is not onerous. I know you’ve already got a lot on your plate. This is sort of going to help you clear stuff away. For those of you who are already in the hundreds and hundreds of women who said yes to this, then I hope that you are having a good time. And if you’re enjoying it, maybe let your friends know as well because we kept the price low and the value super high. That’s kind of the vibe that I go for most times. Protect your energy in any way you can. Know that you are not alone. If you are feeling a little bit depleted, little bit overwhelmed, little bit like what is happening here. It’s a crazy old time. See you next week.

Hey, before you go, I want to let you know that our brand new 30 day audio experience is live and available for you if you would like life to feel easier, little bit more spacious, little bit more time for you, bit more calm instead of feeling like you’re on this crazy treadmill that you just can’t get off and never feel on top of the to-do list. And there just seems to be more and more and more on your plate. This is really going to help. 30 Days, 30 Ways To Make Life Easier is a step by step guide to making your life feel more manageable. I can’t wait for you to go and check it out. Do that right now via the link in the show notes.

Hey, if you are enjoying the conversation, then it would mean the world to me if you head over to iTunes and give us a rating and review, it really makes a difference. And it’s my intention to get as many of us involved in real conversations that really change the game as possible. Thanks so much for your help and I’ll see you in the next episode.