You Don't Need More Time You Need More Energy

Do you constantly feel like you need more time?

More hours in the day.
More margin in your schedule.
More space to get everything done.

What if the real problem isn't time?

What if it's energy?

In this episode of the Freedom Camp Podcast, we explore why so many people feel exhausted, overwhelmed, distracted, and depleted, even when they are doing all the "right" things.

You'll discover:
~ Why exhaustion makes everything feel harder
~ The surprising difference between a time problem and an energy problem
~ A simple two-column exercise to identify what gives you life and what drains it
~ Why many of us build our lives around the things that deplete us
~ How reconnecting with what makes you come alive can change everything

One of the biggest takeaways from this week's Freedom Camp session was this:

"Sometimes the quickest way to find energy is to remember what makes you come alive."

If you've been feeling tired, stuck, overwhelmed, uninspired, or like you're constantly running behind, this episode is for you.

Question:
What makes you come alive?

Share it in the comments. I'd love to hear your answer.

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https://agileinitiatives.com/freedom-camp/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Freedom Camp Podcast. Rooted in truth. Growing in freedom. And built on the belief that you weren't meant to grow alone. Each week I'll share honest stories, insights, and simple questions to help you explore the unseen things that keep you from living in the freedom that's already yours. And take brave intentional steps toward the life you were made for. This is your space to reconnect with your authentic self and grow in freedom on purpose. If I had another day, if I had one more hour, if things would just slow down. I hear that all the time. I've said it myself thousands of times. But what if the problem isn't actually time? Most people think they need more time, but what they actually might need is more energy. Because when you're energized, creative, focused, and connected, you can accomplish more in one hour than you can in three hours when you're exhausted and distracted. And that's exactly what we explored this week in Freedom Camp. Most people today are stressed out, tired, overwhelmed, mentally cluttered, emotionally drained, distracted, running on fumes, and apparently millions of us are dealing with the exhaustion that comes from an autoimmune condition. And when that happens, everything feels harder. Simple decisions feel hard. Relationships feel hard. Heck, meal planning, cooking, any throwing a load of laundry in can feel hard. And even the things you want to do can feel hard. When you're depleted, everything else can feel heavy. And because it feels heavy, we assume it's hard. And I need more time to do this. But what if that's not the real issue? We spent some time in Freedom Camp this week discussing this, and I found something fascinating. When I asked everyone, what makes you come alive? Not what are you good at, not what do you enjoy, or what pays the bills, but what makes you feel alive. Immediately, people started sharing. Music, being outside, gardening, dancing is a big one. Um, words, learning, meaningful conversations, connecting with others, and something happened. The entire energy of the room shifted. People sat up straighter, their faces changed, they lit up, their voices changed, and the whole atmosphere was enlivened. Sometimes the quickest way to find the energy is to remember what makes you come alive. So we did an exercise to help us determine what gives us life or makes us come alive, and what drains our energy. And I want to invite you to do the same exercise. So grab a piece of paper, make two columns. At the top of the first column, simply write energy. And you want to think of things that give you energy, that make you feel alive, things that leave you feeling connected, creative, peaceful, inspired, and energized. Maybe it's walking, maybe it's praying, maybe it's writing your words or creating some artwork, maybe it's cooking, maybe it's a deep conversation. Whatever it is, write it down. Then in the next column, you want to put at the top, drain. And you want to think of things that drain you, uh, things that consistently leave you feeling depleted, or what sucks the life out of you. And it doesn't have to be in a dramatic way, just in an honest way. And you want to write those down too. And you definitely want to be really honest as as you're doing it. Just write down what they are, leave the judgment about it for a moment from now. So turns out most of us know what drains us. The surprising question is whether we are making room for what energizes us. So, as the Freedom Campers shared, here's what I noticed. Many of us have built entire lives around the draining column. And then we try to squeeze the life-giving column into whatever scraps are left. If there's time, if there's energy, if everything else gets done. So we started exploring what if the things that make you come alive aren't an option? What if those very things are what God designed for you to thrive? And not that every day has to be magical or every moment needs to be exciting because it's not. But if nothing in your life regularly makes you come alive or contributes energy in, eventually you're gonna feel it. And that feeling it is the part that I think gets overlooked because this seems like a small thing, it seems simple, and it is simple, and it can be a small thing, but here's where it's played out with me. When I am doing nothing that gives me life, after a period of time, I'm irritated, frustrated, sad, I'm apathetic, but don't have a lot of focus, I don't have a lot of energy, I don't have my zip and my zing. And it can even, if extended out long enough, which I know from experience because it has been, I can be depressed, I can be anxious, I can be apathetic, I can be irritated and easily angered. And then all of those things can trickle out into relationships with others. Um, my relationship with food, or my relationship with work, or my relationship with sleep, my relationship with myself, the way that I think and the way that I talk to myself. Story of your life, that'll never happen. You can't do that, that'll never work. As soon as I start to think about something that does uh make me come alive, there's like this wet blanket that just gets put right on it. And then, of course, my relationship with God can also be really challenged throughout this entire thing. The goodness of God, where is the goodness of God? All my life is is drudgery or boredom or whatever. And this is totally like, you know, hashtag first world problems. But the point is, if we were to do this practical challenge that I'm about to give you, and if you were to embrace it, and this is something that you struggle with on an ongoing basis or intermittently, I bet you're gonna find that it shifts and that you're not struggling with any of these trickle-down things anymore, because the practical challenge is this week, when you look at these two columns, pick something in the life-giving column and decide to do it, commit to do it, plan to do it, protect it, honor it, put it on that calendar and make time for it. Even the language, if you have any extra time, I'd like to get together. Change that to could you make time to connect with me this week? Even if you're talking to yourself, because it's not the mindset, isn't the leftovers are for the things that give us life. The mindset is shifting to the life-giving things are what we do first, and then from that overflow, we then have the focus and the energy and the creativity to be able to do and do a better job with the things that aren't so life-giving, because we probably still need to do those too. So the goal is not to create a perfect life, the goal isn't to eliminate every energy drain, but the goal is to first of all be aware, and second of all, to focus on what brings you life and to incorporate that into your daily life, not just the things that drain the life away. So you may not need more time. You may need more of the things that make you come alive. Thanks for listening to the Freedom Camp Podcast. If this was an encouragement to you and you're thinking of someone else that it may encourage, I hope you will share it with them. I'd love to have you give a review and or share in the comments what are the things that make you come alive and how does this experiment end up working for you. Till next time. Thanks for listening to the Freedom Camp Podcast, where we believe freedom is nurtured from within and grows when you tend to it. If this stirred something in you, let it take root this week and see what grows. And if you enjoyed this or found it meaningful, please give the gift of a review, share it with a friend, and leave a comment below. It helps us build this podcast community because we weren't meant to grow alone.