4 Energy Types & 4 Levels of Burnout (I)
Part 1
I’ve struggled with energy for years. As someone who went through a tough case of Lyme disease, mold illness, low thyroid, autoimmunity, and a slew of bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal infections, maintaining my energy was a top priority. I had to work, after all, and I needed energy to get through my 9-10 hour work day. I also needed energy to get myself to and from work, to go grocery shopping, to cook for myself, to do all the chores that a 23-year old living with roommates had to do.
Not only that, but I also needed enough energy to do my actual job, which was thinking-intensive and very technical, and involved lots of creative problem solving. I needed enough energy to remember my complicated daily medication and supplement regimen, when to take which pill and tincture, which ones to bring to work, and which ones to re-order when they’d get low.
It also takes a certain kind of strength to keep going through all this. Some might call it character strength, others might say “tough spirit.” Or something similar. But it needs to be there, and it needs to be maintained in order to keep someone like me persevering despite challenges.
Energy. It’s all energy. All of this requires energy. But thinking of it as an all-encompassing, generic umbrella term is not helpful when we’re trying to troubleshoot our energy: have more of it, make it more stable, figure out why it’s low, or make it stop crashing every so often.
So, we need to get more specific. What kind of energy do we need more of? When we crash, what does that feel like? What are the characteristics of your energy when you feel like you’ve got plenty? When you’re low?
Getting specific and observing that nuance allows us to see that not all energy is the same. The energy I needed to solve technical problems at work is not the same as the energy I needed to cook on my feet at the end of the day. In the first case, I was relying on my mind and my thinking abilities, and hoping that brain fog won’t slow me down. In the second case, I needed my body to be strong and resilient and keep walking, keep standing, keep moving until my dinner was done and I could go to bed. Interestingly, my mind rested while I made dinner, and my body rested while I problem solved at work.
And through all this, the “strength of my spirit” needed to be maintained, so that I could keep going, day by day, until I heal myself and achieve remission. That spirit strength was also the fuel behind my belief that I can heal.
These are different types of energy. We all have them, and we all have the power to influence them - and heal ourselves.
4 Types of Energy
The 4 types of energy are:
Physical
Mental
Emotional
Spiritual
Physical energy is all about our body. Muscle strength, nutrient status, metabolism, ATP production in our mitochondria, hormone balance. Chemical balance. Proper organ function.
Mental energy is our brain’s capacity to think, problem solve, be creative, multitask. But also: filter and process all the sensory “inputs” in the background, process the day’s events, and tuck it all away in our subconscious.
Emotional energy is all about how we “are” in our life. It’s our ability to maintain homeostasis in our emotions, moods, and states: how we react to things, how we feel at any given moment, how we handle life’s challenges. (When we think of “mental health,” it actually usually falls under the category of emotional energy, because most mental health concerns involve our emotions.)
Spiritual energy is our will to live, our true wishes and desires, and our sense of purpose. That elusive, ethereal “je ne sais quoi” that gives life meaning and color.
The four work together, influence each other, and are always in flux. When one or more of them dips low, the resulting disbalance creates a range of issues, from a mild sense of unease or frustration in our life, to disease, depression, and burnout.
4 Types of Burnout
If energy is capacity, resource, and vitality, then its opposite is fatigue, emptiness, and burnout. And just like energy, burnout can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.
In order to properly diagnose your burnout, heal it, be more attuned to your body’s signals, and have greater agency over your energy levels, it’s important to be able to distinguish between the 4 types - and know what to do for each.
Why?
Because if you’re mentally burned out, applying a “physical solution” is not the best course of action. If you’re physically burned out, then an “emotional solution” is ill-fitting.
Have you ever been tired, got some physical rest, but still felt tired afterwards? Have you ever been super physically active and “fine,” but your brain was at its limits and nearing a breakdown? Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything right, but there’s an “existential dread” inside that’s eating at you? We tend to lump all of these examples into the same category of exhaustion, fatigue, or burnout. But they’re very different. We haven’t learned to distinguish between where our tiredness comes from - and what’s the best course of action to make ourselves feel better!
In a recent conversation with my husband, we talked about his “slump.” Feeling off, low energy, a bit “meh.” It’s all fine, everything’s fine, just a bit “meh.” He thought a bit of physical rest would solve it. But, as we talked, we found that he’s getting good sleep, our eating is great, we’re not over-exercising or under-exercising, so physical tiredness just doesn’t seem to fit.
After exploring it a bit more (how he feels, what he’s been up to lately), we determined that he’s emotionally tired. His physical health is in a good place, his work is mentally stimulating but not draining, his work and life are aligned with his spiritual goals… but he hasn’t done anything he loves in a while. He hasn’t had an emotional recharge in a long time. So for his situation at that time, the solution was to fill up his emotional energy bucket!
Your Energy Buckets
Imagine 4 buckets full of water. Each bucket is labeled: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual. During your day, you use a bit of water from each bucket for your life’s needs: work, communication, metabolism, temperature control, body movement, problem solving, processing information, regulating hormones, feeling emotions, breathing. Everything we do takes energy.
But energy is not just calories and cellular respiration. It takes energy to feel empathy for someone. It takes energy to plan for your future. Sitting still and debugging code on a computer for hours takes a lot of energy! So does scrolling through your Instagram feed (think of how many different emotions you feel rapid-fire fast as you scroll: awe, inspiration, jealousy, surprise, motivation, excitement, annoyance).
If you’re not used to sensing your energy levels, it might be hard to simply visualize that you are at “exactly 68% mental capacity,” for example. Plus, that might not be necessary. What’s more important is creating awareness around the different types of energy, and the different types of tiredness you might be experiencing. At the end of this article, I’ll share a few exercises to try to start building that awareness.
All of that takes energy, and that energy comes from the 4 buckets. At any given time, you can pause and assess the state of your energy buckets: if “filled to the brim” is 100%, and “completely empty and dry” is 0%, what’s your energy level in your emotional bucket? In your physical bucket? In the mental and spiritual buckets?
When one or more of your buckets gets really low, we experience “burnout.” At least, we say that we’re burned out. But what’s going on under the surface is different with each type of low energy.
Here are just some examples what each type of burnout can feel like:
Mental burnout:
Exhaustion, classic burnout feeling
Tired but wired, mind racing, insomnia
Low stress tolerance, frequent breakdowns
Brain fog, difficulty focusing
Anxiety, worry, fear, panic attacks
Can’t sit down, hard to stop doing things, restless
Constantly thinking, planning, or problem solving
Word block, forgetfulness, difficulty doing basic math in your head
Physical burnout:
Fatigue, muscle weakness, body aches
Lightheadedness, wooziness when standing up
Long recovery time after working out (or major crashing after workouts)
Getting frequent infections or colds
Frequent headaches or migraines
Super tired in the morning (until your first or even second cup of coffee)
Want to lay down a lot during the day
Spiritual burnout:
Having no purpose
Aimless, confused, existential dread
Emptiness despite being busy
Nothing feels good
You’re “living someone else’s life”
The path you’re on doesn’t feel right, exciting, or clear
It’s difficult to make yourself go to work, or work towards anything
You’re not proud of your accomplishments
Emotional burnout:
“Meh,” “blah,” “fine but not great”
Dry, drained, empty, low
Low motivation, bored, or stuck in a rut
Hard to think clearly, focus, or concentrate
Bitterness, frustration, upset
Hard to handle difficult situations, low stress tolerance
Want to do nothing, but restless when resting
Low self-esteem, low confidence, feelings of inadequacy
Pent up emotions, “ready to burst,” wanting to “let it all out”
I encourage you to begin to notice which of these feelings and states describe a big portion of your day (or week). Building awareness of what’s going on will help you determine which energy bucket you’re lowest in - and therefore, which type of energy needs the most attention.
How do you replenish your energy and reverse burnout? Find out in part 2 here.
Read more about my own burnout story on my Instagram!
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