Energy is the capacity to do work or the ability to cause change. It’s a finite resource that I'm increasingly aware of how I’m spending. This realisation coincides with each rotation of the earth around the sun. As our birthdate recedes, our appreciation of mortality gets sharper. We finally realise that our time is limited and we’re simply not going to be able to do everything we want to do in our relatively short lifetime.
It’s disappointing at first but after the initial shock that we’re not going to live forever (normally around late 20’s early 30’s - for me anyway) we can check our supplies and hopefully continue on with more purpose. We can dedicate our resources to attracting more and using them to do things that bring us joy rather than wandering aimlessly through life.
How we spend our energy is important. I should know because one of my defining character traits is high energy output.
Most people in my life would agree that I give lots of energy when we hang out. I enjoy it. A successful life is one dedicated to things worthy of my best energy. The thing with Energy is that it can be converted in form but not created or destroyed. It’s a give and take scenario. Lots of energy in, lots of energy out. That's the idea anyway.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to recognize areas or people in my life that have a low return on energy. When I was younger, I used to just tolerate these situations where I felt like I was being drained. I think most of us would’ve had a person(s) in our life who just takes. Sometimes you don’t even realise it's happening until you walk away and think, god, why am I so tired and grumpy? I wasn’t when I started that conversation. It's normally because that person has taken your energy for themselves and not given anything back in return. This is something I now no-longer tolerate in my life.
I’ve started to feel quite protective and precious about my energy. I’ve started treating it with more respect and not just drawing upon it endlessly but having down time and actively looking for rest. This last weekend in Apollo Bay I spent two full days reading Jacinda Ardern’s A Different Kind of Power. I don’t often give myself space to rest and do something as indulgent as reading a whole book but it was wonderful.
The book itself was incredibly energising. Jacinda is only 2 years older than me so grew up in the same New Zealand I did. While her story started with growing up in the Waikato there were parallels with my childhood in Stokes Valley and the Hutt in Wellington. There was a roughness that I found incredibly comforting. She reflects a lot upon the relationships within her family and how they change as we age and start to understand that they’re fallible humans just like the rest of us.
I never lived in New Zealand while Jacinda was Prime Minister but reading about her experience of running a country was very inspiring. To achieve so much at such a young age and do it with so much grace is profound. There is a great picture in the book of New Zealand’s three female former Prime Minsters Helen Clarke, Jenny Shipley and Jacinda Ardern. It makes me proud to be a kiwi and gives me hope. Leading with kindness is something this fractured world needs more than ever.
Spending two days immersed in this book charged my batteries. It has set me up for the next few weeks which include some of the most high demand energy events I’ll have all year. I’m off to The Design Conference in Brisbane next week followed by our Girls/Boys in STEM program the week after. There are events and parties and catch up’s, all of which require my precious energy and the most awesome thing is that most of them will give back twice as much as I put in. That's why I come in at 11.
The one event that I’m most excited about today is the Op shop sale at Barkley Square tomorrow. This is a quarterly event where people set up stalls and sell second hand clothes. As an avid op shopper I love having a look and it's not surprising that Alice is equally as interested. The last time we went we got talking about how awesome it would be to set up our own stall. We don’t really have a good collection of clothes, they all just get passed around family and friends but what I do have is a whole lot of home-made leather goods…
Long story short - Opposite the factory we lived in at Williamstown was a furniture upholster. I noticed one day they were throwing out bags of awesome leather offcuts. I asked if I could take a couple and got really into making little card wallets and bags (pre child obviously). I ended up making a stack of stuff and did a xmas market in Apollo Bay that didn’t go nearly as well as I’d hoped despite my mother in law and me doing our best. I left with 20 odd sunglasses cases, 30 little card wallets and various other little pouches and pencilcases. Far too much stuff to gift away so I packed it into a box until this opportunity popped up.
I told Alice we could try and sell the leather goods and she almost immediately started to make little signs and price tags. Her energy was unstoppable until I learned that they had sold out of stalls and we wouldn’t be able to do it this time. It was really hard telling her but we’re very good at dealing with bad news in this family so she said she understood, dried her tears and said - maybe next time Mum. It was only last week when we got an email saying they had opened up another space and that we could get a stall after all!
Alice jumped right up and got her sharpies out ready to make new price tags and signs. I had to stop her from setting up our little table with the products because it was still two weeks away and I didn’t want a market stall in the middle of the lounge. Alice is SO excited that her energy is palpable. You can drink it up. It doesn’t really matter what happens on the day and knowing her she’ll be over it in an hour and want to go home but spending our time together getting organised is truly delightful.
We’re hoping to make enough to take the family out for dinner on Saturday night. Alice’s choice of venue since she had put in all the hard work. This is where I want to be investing my energy, in a sweet amazing little girl who is giving me 1000 times more in return.
