21 Practical Ways to Protect Your Energy in Difficult Times
In this article, you will discover 21 practical and simple ways to protect your energy when you are facing difficult times. It is critical for you to tend to your own personal energy and emotional health when things are particularly difficult because this is when you need to be your very best.
During times of crisis, it is especially important to conserve your mental energy and practice intentional acts of self-care. Depleting your energy and neglecting your personal needs will negatively impact your immune system as well as your mental health. But it’s during difficult times that you most need to protect yourself from negative energy and exhaustion so you can live your best life.
So let’s learn more about how you can manage and protect your energy during difficult times.
Protect Your Energy in Difficult Times
When life is moving along without a problem, it is easy to manage your energy and maintain a balanced life. Unfortunately, during difficult times it becomes much more difficult.
It is quite easy to find yourself in a situation where you are giving too much of your energy to others, or to a problem in your life. Difficult or challenging times can include:
- when you have difficult decisions to make
- family crises
- marital problems
- career or work problems
- grief
- major transitions in life
- significant illnesses or injuries
- financial problems
These are just a small number of challenges you might face in life that lead to an unhealthy give-and-take of your personal energy. But it is essential to manage and protect your energy to avoid potentially serious and negative consequences.
What Does Protect Your Energy Mean?
Preserving and protecting your energy is crucial to your mental and physical health. Ultimately, your personal energy is what helps determine your overall happiness in life. It empowers you to go after your dreams and live the life you desire.
You give away a lot of energy everyday — at work, to friends, to loved ones, to the world — through worry, empathy, curiosity, and compassion. You need to recognize that your needs are equally important as the needs of others. You can care about others, and help them, without giving away too much of your own energy.
If you give away too much of yourself — your personal energy — it will be difficult for you to maintain your mental, physical, and spiritual health and wellbeing.
Why Is It Important to Protect Your Energy?
Protecting your energy is important because it enables you to get the most out of life in a positive and joyful way. For people who are highly sensitive, or have a tendency to always help other people, learning to protect your energy is especially important to ensure you don’t overdo and become weak from giving so much of your energy to others.
Someone who is an empath — one who has the ability to feel the energy and emotions of someone else — is especially susceptible to giving away their energy. It is thought that people naturally exchange energy between them in a give and take manner. But Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) and Empaths run the risk of taking in too much negative energy from people in need, and/or giving too much of their own energy to those in need.
You have to find a balance between having sympathy or empathy for those in need without exhausting your own brain energy with worry and concern.
Giving away your own energy can cause you to become ill, run down, unable to think clearly, confused, fatigued, and exhausted. Even a physically strong body cannot cope if the mind is fragile. You will have trouble achieving your own goals in life when you are giving too much of yourself to others. This is why it’s important to protect your energy — you must limit the amount of energy you give to others. Protect your energy at all cost. You and your loved ones will be much happier, healthier, productive, and fulfilled.
21 Practical Ways to Protect Your Energy
Although this article was written for those who are experiencing difficult times, these practical behaviors should be incorporated into your self care routine at all times. These behaviors will help you live your best life while preserving your personal energy.
1. Take a Social Media Break: A digital detox should be a regular part of your self care practices anyway, but it is especially important when you are stressed. You’ve probably heard that too much screen time keeps your brain in overdrive and contributes to feelings of anxiety and depression. You don’t need that when you are feeling stressed.
2. Meditate, Journal, and/or Pray: These practices will help provide clarity, comfort, and peace of mind when you most need it. Meditation and prayer are powerful tools for anxiety, stress, and overwhelm. Journaling is a great strategy for managing emotions and brain energy.
Related Article: 43 Popular Topics for Journal Prompts to Help Your Grow
3. Get Extra Sleep: Sleep hygiene is critically important, but during difficult times it’s more important than ever because you need a well rested mind to problem solve and think clearly. You may want to use bedtime affirmations to help you get good sleep.
4. Prioritize Tasks and Activities: During times of stress, you should prioritize what needs immediate attention and what can be left until you are feeling stronger and less stressed. This should be part of your regular self care practices anyway, but now you need all the energy you can muster. It may even be necessary and appropriate to cancel commitments.
5. Ask for Grace: Let others know that you’re going through a difficult time. Ask for their understanding, patience, and grace.
6. Communicate Your Needs: Communicate to others how they can help you or what you need to get through this difficult time. Let them know your energy is depleted and you need help.
7. Let Go of Guilt: Let go of any guilt you normally feel when you’re unable to be there for everyone else because of your current situation. You’ll be available to them when you get your energy back. People who love you will understand and want the best for you.
8. Rest, Recharge, Refresh: Be sure to schedule time to rest, recharge, and refresh by doing something fun and mindless regularly. Give yourself space to be alone and quiet. Create an emotional escape space in your home as a mental retreat. Or go shopping, get a massage, take a walk — do whatever helps you rejuvenate your mind and body.
9. Set Clear Boundaries: Say “no” to people who ask for your time and attention while you are stressed. Let people know you are slammed right now and don’t have extra time. Setting boundaries should also include staying away from people with bad energy. Keep negative energy away!
10. Manage Your Energy: Take things one step at a time. Don’t push your limits — grant yourself grace and patience like you would give to others in need. You can’t be everything to everyone all the time! Guard your energy.
11. Listen to Your Body: During times of stress, your body can go haywire very quickly. Stress is typically considered a mental health problem but it also impacts your physical health. Be sure to pay attention and acknowledge what’s happening with your body — aches, pains, illness, and unusual feelings — so you can tend to those issues.
12. Move Your Body Gently: If you normally workout, you may want to decrease the intensity of your workout and be more gentle with your body. But you should be sure to move your body regularly — stretch, walk, do yoga, dance, etc. Don’t push yourself beyond your comfort level during difficult times. Preserve your energy.
13. Eat and Drink Properly: During times of stress, it’s important to protect yourself and your energy to avoid getting sick and run down. Be sure to eat healthy foods and drink plenty of water. Avoid over-indulgence in the comfort foods, caffeinated beverages, and alcohol.
14. Hang Out with Positive People: Now is the time to stop being around people who drain your energy. Spend time with people who support and love you. With some people, you can simply cut ties. With others, it’s not quite that simple but you can limit your interaction.
15. Speak Kindly: Speak kindly to yourself and others. This is no time for criticism, hate, or doubt — those emotions and words waste your energy. Give compliments, acknowledge accomplishments, notice pretty things — pay attention to others and respond with kindness. But most importantly, eliminate self-criticism, self-hate, and self-doubt.
16. Trust Your Instincts: Trust your instincts to lead you in the right direction with this crisis and stop fighting all the crazy thoughts that will deplete your energy. Don’t over-complicate this situation by predicting an outcome or developing “what if…” scenarios in your mind. Trust the process and trust yourself.
17. Acknowledge and Understand Your Feelings: During times of crisis, it is often hard to identify your emotions and deal with them effectively. Consider using an Emotion Wheel to identify your emotions as a first step toward dealing with all that you are feeling. Then be sure to “feel” all of the emotions so you can avoid over-reacting, over-thinking, or over-intensifying. These responses will drain your energy quickly.
18. Respond Instead of React: There is a difference between responding and reacting to a situation in front of you. A reaction tends to be what you do without thought or consideration. It’s a spontaneous behavior. A response tends to be what you do after you think and consider the facts of a situation. A response helps preserve your energy since it is done with calm and deliberate intention. Save your energy and be sure to respond instead of react when dealing with stress and worry.
19. Stop Judging Others: Don’t waste your precious energy judging others. Judgement is a negative behavior that only serves to bring you down.
20. Use Affirmations to Keep a Positive Mindset: Affirmations are positive statements that can help you challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts that waste your brain energy. When you repeat them often, and believe in them, you can maintain your positive energy. I have included five positive affirmations to help you protect your energy in the next section.
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21. Practice Deep Breathing: You should be doing this every single day whether you are experiencing difficult times or not. Stress can cause you to have very shallow breathing (I know from experience). It’s important for you to be highly aware of your breathing so you can cleanse and purify your body, mind, and soul. Close your eyes and breathe in calm, peace and light… breathe out pain, toxicity and darkness. Your breath is your simplest but greatest power.
Some people use less traditional ways to protect their energy during difficult times. These practices might include a session of Reiki, acquiring certain crystals that help with energy protection, or smudging their space with burning sage. Some people might use a favorite Mantra or Chant — or chimes to align their Chakras. Essential oils are being used more and more for emotional healing and protection today. Visualization is also used often as a way to protect your energy. There are many strategies from Ancient times that have been used for clearing your negative energy during times of crisis or daily living.
I hope these strategies have provided you with valuable ideas about how to protect your energy during difficult times. Now let’s look at a few more helpful tips that will help you protect your energy.
Related Article: 50 Powerful Affirmations for Self Love
Positive Affirmations to Protect Your Energy
Choose an affirmation that feels right for you and speak the words every morning and every night to help you protect your energy from negativity. This is a great strategy to use for emotional self care. You will find your brain begins to hear your words and will BELIEVE them:)
I breathe in positive energy only, and release toxicity through my breath. My space is loving, protected, and free from of worry. I allow simplicity and love into my home.
I am free from all energy drains. I protect myself at all times. My energy is safe and completely mine. I only allow positive energy, thoughts and vibrations to flow through me.
I focus my energy only on things that add value to my life. I am intentional about the boundaries I set to preserve my sacred energy. My space is sacred and loving, full of positive energy that feeds my body, mind, and spirit.
I am intentional about the energy I put out and the energy I allow around me. I do not allow negative thinking to penetrate my thoughts. I am loved. I am protected.
I am in charge of my own energy. I choose to feel grounded, calm, peaceful, and secure. I breathe in the positive energy around me and rise above the negative energy that does not serve me.
Protect Your Energy Quotes
These are 8 of my favorite inspirational quotes about why and how to protect your energy Use them as inspiration to help you preserve and protect your energy so you are not burdened by negative energy around you.
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ Marcus Aurelius
“When you are at peace, you attract positive energy.” ~ Sen
“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.” ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“Relax and look to nature. Nature never rushes, yet everything gets done in time.” ~ Donald L. Hicks
“Everything around us is made up of energy. To attract positive things in your life, start by giving off positive energy.” ~ Unknown
“Energy is contagious, positive and negative alike. I will forever be mindful of what and who I am allowing into my space.” ~ Alex Elle
“Positive Energy knows no boundaries. If everyone were to spread positive energy on the Internet, the world would be a much better place.” ~ Lu Wei
“Like food is to the body, self-talk is to the mind. Don’t let any junk thoughts repeat in your head.” ~ Maddy Malhotra
Final Thoughts About How to Protect Your Energy
I hope my words here have helped you develop a strong understanding about the importance of protecting your energy, especially during difficult times. You always need to be aware of how you are using and projecting your energy in order to live a more peaceful life. You also need to be conscious of the people and things that are draining your energy so you can limit it. By taking these steps, you can protect your energy and keep yourself healthy and balanced.
Always be mindful of your surroundings and be sure your energy is flowing freely so you are able to manifest your desires and dreams. Protect your energy field — think of it as the aura around you and within you.
Love to ALL! ~ Susan
How Do You Protect Your Energy During Challenging Times and/or Daily Life?
Share in the Comments:)
