Mapping Your Daily Energy: Identifying What Nourishes and Depletes You

Have you ever wondered why some days leave you completely drained while others energize you? The answer lies in a simple but profound exercise—creating an activity inventory of your daily life.

Following our previous exploration of relationship inventories, this episode dives deep into how the activities filling your day impact your mental wellbeing. From the moment you wake until you fall asleep, everything you do either nourishes, neutralizes, or depletes your energy reserves. By carefully documenting and categorizing these activities using the P-N-D framework (Positive-Neutral-Depleting), you gain powerful insights into what truly serves you.

The most revealing discoveries often come when examining depleting activities—those that leave you mentally exhausted and emotionally drained. Many of us find ourselves trapped in depleting careers or routines because of parental expectations, financial necessity, or societal pressure. The mismatch between personality and daily activities creates a constant source of stress that undermines wellbeing. Through the journaling process outlined in this episode, you'll identify these joy thieves and develop strategies to eliminate or modify them.

This isn't just about productivity—it's about reclaiming your mental health and reducing anxiety. By intentionally crafting days filled with more nourishing activities and fewer depleting ones, you create space for fulfillment and joy. What depleting activities might you eliminate today? Your mind and body will thank you for making this inventory a regular practice.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Introduction to Activity Inventory
• 0:33 Creating Your Activity List
• 1:28 Categorizing Activities: P-N-D System
• 3:11 Managing Depleting Activities
• 4:50 Applying Insights for Less Anxiety

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello, hello, wonderful people. The other day we were talking about making an inventory of our relationships, that in life we will have relationships that are nourishing and those that are just neutral and those that are depleting, and that you were to work on a list of people, either family members, co-workers and just your friends. Today you have to look at the activities that you engage in, all the things that you get involved in, starting from morning, all day long, up to the time when you go to sleep. It helps if you make a list of all these things. What do you do first thing when you get up in the morning? What do you do then during the day before lunchtime? What are you doing in the afternoons? What do you do if you are waking? What do you do when you knock off after work? What activities do you do when you knock off after work? What activities do you do Then?

Speaker 1: 1:28

In these activities, you'll find that some of the activities nourishes you. They are nourishing, they are fulfilling, they kind of give you joy, happiness. You know they are relaxing to you, whereas some of the activities you get involved in may just be neutral. Whether you've done them or you don't do them, you just don't feel depleted. You don't feel depleted, you don't feel nourished either. So those we can place an N on them for neutral, or we can do the opposite way. Let's say the ones that are nourishing are positive things and you are going to place a P for nourishing because there are positive things that are energizing you, that are fulfilling you, and the ones that are neutral don't seem to have a negative or positive impact on you. You place an N for neutral. And those that are depleting for you you'll find them draining, cognitively, mentally draining, physically draining, and sometimes you just do them because, um, probably they're part of the job that you have to do. You're just doing them probably because, as part of the job that you do, is a requirement, and or you do them simply because you earn a living, you earn income out of that, and but nonetheless they are depleting for you. They leave you really overwhelmed, they leave you exhausted mentally and you wish you didn't have to do them at all and if you had a choice you wouldn't do them.

Speaker 1: 3:25

And sometimes people find themselves in careers or jobs that they find really depleting.

Speaker 1: 3:32

And sometimes they got into those careers because family said so, their parents said so, their moms propelled them and motivated them and pushed them towards pursuing that particular career or line of work when they were not actually passionate about it, and it lacks compatibility between their personality and that career path, their personality and that career path.

Speaker 1: 4:03

Now could you just say, for example, make a list of these and see by the end of the day, starting from morning to evening, what, among the activities you engage in, you find depleting, not nourishing, and as you do that, it will help you to eliminate, where possible, some of the things that really just steals your joy, that just drains you mentally, that are not invigorating, not stimulating, not motivating for you, or you can make some changes to some of those. Once you've made a list it's part of the journaling process you get an idea what stimulates you, what nourishes you, what depletes you, what depletes you and what is worth avoiding or eliminating from your life. Thanks again for listening and I hope this will help you cope with whatever is creating anxiety in your life. Bye.