Most people understand the value of money, whether or not that results in treating it as a valuable resource. The amount of our salary, whether we get raises, bonuses, and promotions are important. Inflation, the cost of eggs, and tariffs make a difference in our satisfaction with whomever the president is. Our willingness to donate or give away money reveals something about its value to us, as well.
However, two other resources that are of equal, if not greater value, are energy and time. Energy, like money, can be spent unwisely, but you can replenish your supply. With energy, you do so not by working harder to earn more, but by working less, and by practicing self-care. But since most people think self-care is an indulgence and our culture teaches us that we must push past the limitations of our mind and body and press on, what ends up happening is that people remain in a semi-operational but compromised state of fight/flight/freeze/fake until they crash and burn, with the body unwilling to allow you to abuse yourself any more than you already have. And then, because you didn’t do anything to restore your energy until your tank was empty, it takes a long time to heal from the damage you have done to yourself.
Luckily, if you practice self-soothing, you can eventually learn to listen to your body and restore your energy to a pre-crisis state. You can then start taking your self-care more seriously and make sure that you are intentional about what is worth spending energy over and about replenishing what was spent on an ongoing basis. It took me a long time to learn how to do this–like, decades–but it’s still possible to learn. And probably even faster than decades if you aren’t as stubborn and strong-willed as I am. But if you’re like me, you’re probably in for the long haul.
The most precious of these 3 resources, in my opinion, is time. Because unlike money and energy, once time is spent, it can never be recouped. It is gone forever, whether you spent it wisely or foolishly. All we are promised is this moment. There are no guarantees that you will get more time. Therefore, we must learn to treasure this moment and be fully present to whatever it holds. Because even if it holds things that are painful, those painful things are teaching you a valuable lesson for how to use your time wisely in the future. And we can never acquire too much wisdom too soon.
Well, I take that back. Trauma can teach us wisdom too soon, but fortunately, if it’s turned to wisdom, then you develop greater compassion as your reward.
Not so coincidentally, I had started this blog post a few minutes before I was about to hop onto a session. And wouldn’t you know, her very problem related to how she spent her money, time, and energy. Her aura ring had been telling her that she had been spending 10-12 hours a day in a stressful state, based on her heart rate. She knew this was due to a difficulties with a colleague who she was trying to help, despite his unwillingness to listen to her advice.
Her husband told her she could quit her job because the money wasn’t so important that it was worth her feeling miserable. The energy she was expending at work was making her ability to be fully present to the things she enjoyed difficult. Instead, she was just going through the motions. And she wasted a lot of time trying to help someone who didn’t want to be helped before she referred him to someone else who could provide him with individual coaching.
As we discussed money, time, and energy as resources, she said that if she had been with a team of people where they shared the same vibe and she was spending 10-12 hours a day on a project, it would have been worth it because the positive momentum and team dynamics would be giving her energy back. Moreover, they were more likely to be successful in fulfilling their task quickly, which would result in greater productivity, positive feedback from upper management, bonuses, and possibly a raise and/or a promotion.
So it’s not clear-cut how one should value the interplay between money, energy, and time. However, it is clear that it would be in your best interests to make sure you value all three.
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