OPINION: Take steps to protect your own emotional wellbeing in lockdown - Sophie Mei Lan

I am an introvert by nature so I get my energy from time on my own at home. I am not typically shy, far from it, as I present videos online and can speak in front of thousands, but I can feel individual’s ‘vibes.’

Whether that be a negative energy in a gym class or the non-verbal noise of an open plan office in normal times. I can perform bold and powerful in my profession but then I need to retreat to restore again.

I confess that there have been parts of lockdown I have enjoyed. Granted, I have also discovered the power of gratitude too in this challenging time.

So, for me, more time at home and less time putting on a show when I leave the house has in some ways been good for my energy levels. But with this pandemic and a laser focus on my life there are some lessons I have learned on how to preserve our emotional well being no matter what.

Whether you’re hyper-sensitive to people’s energy like me or not, we are all worthy of self-care and positive relationships.

One of those things is to continue ‘social distancing’ from negative vibes, Yes there will always be some people we need to face who challenge us and our vibes but I now have realised the importance of surrounding myself with people of aligning values… good vibes only…. Well at least high vibes in the sense that the people I choose to fully allow into my life following this pandemic will be more selective.

I have always been a ‘yes person’ and a giver but as they say ‘givers need to have limits because takers don’t.’ Now is the perfect opportunity to reflect on who adds to our life and gently disassociate with those who just deplete us.

It is not my style to ‘cut people out’ but I know where to limit my association with them. This gives us all time to expand our associations with fellow ‘high vibing’ people.

Too often I have allowed my environment to be sabotaged with people I was putting up with because I gave them my positive energy and unconditional ‘cheerleading’, whereas they sucked out all of my energy as ‘vampires,’ so I had little left for myself.

This compromised one of my core values, which is to give most of my time to my self-dubbed ‘cheerleading team’ of family, close friends and also for my own self-care.

I hadn’t realised how depleted my energy reserves were until I was finally diagnosed with chronic fatigue, also another pandemic discovery and that the biggest trigger for me is stress… usually from negative vibing people.

So not only did I learn the art of energy pacing and healing through exercises and activity patterns, but for me having enforced time on my own and less time with vampires has given me the chance to invest in my inner circle.

It also means I have the energy to pursue my creative endeavours in writing a book and further studies exploring mental health and fitness.

So when we return to some form of ‘normal’ daily life, I know that I am taking action to continue to protect my own emotional wellbeing. Why don’t you have a think about what you will choose to ‘add in’ to your life so you too can gain positive control?

As the saying goes where “our attention goes, our energy flows.”