Protecting your energy

Download Protecting your energy worksheet (PDF)

Know what wears you down. Hold on to what keeps you going.

You’re not alone

A lot of people are feeling worn down right now, and for real reasons.

You might be feeling overwhelmed by:

• Constant bad news, social media, or group chats
• Money stress or pressure to keep it all together
• Concern for your safety or your family’s safety
• Being treated unfairly or feeling unseen and unheard
• Feeling like you always have to be strong or push through
• Taking care of everyone else with little time for yourself
• Feeling pressure to work harder or prove yourself in spaces where you don’t fully feel accepted
• Decisions outside your control that affect your life

All of these factors can take a toll over time, so it’s important to be intentional about where you put your time, attention, and care.

This doesn’t mean tuning out the hard stuff. It means finding ways to care for yourself even when life feels overwhelming, so you can show up for your people and what matters to you.

Some things that wear us down are personal. Others come from the world around us. Some come from having to deal with more than one person should have to.

Think it through:

• What situations, expectations, or systems are making life harder right now?
• What is your body trying to tell you? Do you have fatigue, headaches, or muscle tightness?
• Are you trying to do too much without enough support?
• Are there places or people that leave you feeling drained, judged, ignored, or like you have to hide parts of yourself?
• What feels outside your control, and what support do you need around it?

Relief, comfort, connection, and even brief moments of peace are meaningful and can help you get through the day.

Think it through:

• What helps you feel even a little better?
• When was the last moment that felt even a little easier?
• Who helps you feel less alone?
• What makes you laugh?
• What’s one small thing you made it through today?

Even when you can’t control everything, there are small steps you can take to help protect yourself from the things that wear you down.

What can help right now if everything feels like too much?

• Reduce the noise: Step away from scrolling, alerts, or conversations when they start to overwhelm you.
• Ground yourself in the moment: Try: “I’m here. I made it through today.”
• Check in with your body: Drop your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. Take one slow breath.
• Find quick comfort: Listen to music, watch your favorite show, step outside, take a moment to pray, find a quick laugh, or move your body.
• Text or call someone who gets you: Even “today is a lot” can be enough to start a conversation.
• Shrink the moment: Focus on the next hour, the next meal, or the next thing, just not everything at once.
• Take a guilt-free break: You do not have to earn rest.
• Go where you feel safe and respected: It might be a café, a barbershop, a salon, a place of worship, or a friend’s house — anywhere that connection, culture, and conversation come naturally.

What can help over time when things keep wearing you down?

• Name the pattern: What keeps coming up at work, at home, in your community, or in how you’re treated?
• Be clear about what’s not yours to carry alone: Some pressure comes from systems, expectations, bias, or how others treat you, not you or your actions.
• Adjust what you can (even a little): This might mean saying no, asking for support, changing your routine or schedule, or doing things differently than you have been.
• Protect your energy: Limit your time around people or in spaces that drain your energy.
• Connect to what grounds you in who you are: Lean into your culture, faith, creativity, sense of humor, language, food, movement, or traditions — whatever helps you feel most like yourself.
• Build something that steadies you: Make a playlist, walk a favorite route, take time to journal, or find another small routine or practice that helps you recharge that you can return to on hard days.
• Let support in before you’re burned out: You don’t have to wait until things get “bad enough” to ask for help.
• Acknowledge small wins: Continuing to show up and getting through the day counts as success.

If it’s hard to find moments of relief or every day feels heavy, you don’t have to figure it out alone. There is hope and help.

Online screening takes only a few minutes, and after you finish, you will receive information about the next steps you can take based on your results.

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If you’re in crisis or need immediate help: Call or text 988 for free, confidential support. Trained counselors are available 24/7.