The Importance in Prioritizing Your Energy: Some Things Just Don’t Matter

Life is hard. Everyone has something going on, whether they are vocal and public about it or not. Just because the girl sitting next to you at Starbucks is cruising on her phone while you frantically cram for a huge exam doesn’t mean she goes to bed every night at ease. Just because your coworker always seems to be in the best mood doesn’t mean she’s not struggling day and night to get food on the table. Enough assumptions. Understand one another. We all have millions of things on our minds at a given time. We all have things to worry about. As a result, how do we cope with that? How do we keep our sanity and inner peace in the midst of a crazy life?

We have to prioritize our energy. Some things just don’t matter.

We have to prioritize what even is deserving of our time and attention and what is not. We have to evaluate where we are allocating our time and why. We have to determine what we value in life, and if we are giving that the time it deserves. Why grow tired and frustrated over things that just don’t matter? First, we must determine what exactly matters to us. Who matters to us. And that is our job to set straight. We have to come to terms with our lives in regards to what we actually care about. What is most important for you to make time for? Who is most important? Why? Ask yourself. Figure it out. And then set time for those things accordingly. Less complaining, more maximizing on what is truly valuable to us, what will push us forward, what we are grateful for and what we want to accomplish. 

For example, I value my friends, family, health and academics. It took me a while to realize that. I would stay up late on Instagram instead of pampering myself to well-deserved rest. I didn’t understand that I don’t value late hours of scrolling, but I rather value health and mental clarity. I would spend hours in the library struggling to understand a problem while scarfing down a bag of chips, forgetting how important my health is to me, forgetting the power of time management in preparing for exams. Where were my priorities? Clouded. I then made clear to myself what mattered most to me in life, and anything that didn’t lie parallel was automatically filtered out. I am able to only focus on what matters, and every other little thing has been wiped out. And it feels so good. It is my job to know when my energy is being wasted and to stop wasting it.

Your energy is like money. You wouldn’t spend it on things you don’t care for. So why treat your precious mental space any differently? Spend your time accordingly. Look at the world. Look how huge it is and how many things are going on for every single person on that map. A lot of the problems we feel so stressed out about are entirely insignificant. Stop letting them take up all of your energy. Stop wasting your money, for real. 

So, think carefully about where your energy should go! Ask yourself what is truly significant in your life and deserving of all of your energy and time. Moral of the story… we all have stuff going on. Each and everyone of us. Even the people that seem like their life is so easy. That is only a projection, and projections do not show what lies behind them. It’s our job to make time for what matters and what doesn’t, for that will allow us to live the most fulfilling, purposeful and empowering life possible. 

 

• energy
• mental health
• priorities
• time