drainers and energizers

DRAINERS

ENERGIZERS

by monica wilson

It sure has been a turbulent three years. We know that being exposed to continual stress can cause burnout. I want to kick off the year with an invitation to focus on you using a simple, self-reflective exercise designed to promote selfcare and boost energy.

Quality of Life

Senior living has long focused on our residents’ well-being and quality of life. But really, we want to support the quality of life for all stakeholders. When we come to work each day, we should all have relationship opportunities and activities that allow us to experience a sense of security, belonging, continuity, purpose, achievement, and significance. As leaders, we are the ones responsible for establishing and supporting the culture and environment that promotes these opportunities.

Self-Care

It’s hard to effectively lead our teams when our energy is depleted, and our own sense of purpose is diminished or compromised. I think we all know this, but sometimes a little nudge and reminder to take some time to focus on self-care helps. Even if we are pretty good at self-care, we can sometimes find ourselves in a rut.

It’s helpful to examine what feeds us, what inspires us and what is dragging down our energy so we can be intentional about how we spend our time and choose activities that fuel and energize us.

Drainers& Energizers

I invite you to take a few minutes to complete this short, simple exercise. We’ve been using some form of this exercise for almost thirty years in workshops and trainings. When this tool is used optimally, the results you can achieve are significant. It’s best to jot down your responses and really examine them. If you want a quick, more detailed form to use, you can grab one here: https://www.icebridgetraining.com/ drainersandenergizers The goal is to identify the negative stressors that drain you and the positive energizers that revitalize you – at work, at home and at play. Take a few minutes to visualize how you typically spend your day and then list the places/people/activities and conditions that both drain you and those that renew your energy and sense of well-being.

One way to reduce the risk of stress exhaustion is to increase the energizers and if possible, decrease the drainers or find a way to turn the drainers into energizers. You can easily adapt this into a team-building exercise and use it to help reset your team’s energy.

Here’s to a happy, healthy and revitalized year!

monica wilson, ms

ICEBridge, LLC