How to Identify Core Energy and Somatic Self-Care: Practical Self-Diagnosis Exercises
3 exercises to identify your type of depletion: review your typical week, count your forced "yeses," and notice what activity actually recharges you.
1. Review your typical week
Write down, hour by hour, a representative day of your week. How much time is dedicated exclusively to nothing productive? If the answer is "practically none," that's a direct signal of structural overload, not just one-off tiredness.
2. Count your forced "yeses"
For a week, note every time you accept something (a task, a plan, a favor) while internally feeling you'd rather say no. The number of "forced yeses" is a direct, measurable indicator of depletion from fuzzy boundaries.
3. Notice what activity actually recharges you
Distinguish between activities that "should" be restful (watching shows, scrolling your phone) and the ones you actually notice give you energy back once they're done. Many passive "rest" activities don't really recharge — telling the difference is key for the emotional type of depletion.
- A total absence of non-productive time in your week signals structural overload, not just one-off tiredness.
- The number of "forced yeses" is a direct, measurable indicator of fuzzy boundaries.
- Not every perceived rest activity actually recharges you — it helps to tell the two apart.
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References and Bibliography
Selection of sources used as conceptual background for this article.
- Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Depression and Anxiety, 18(2), 76-82.
- Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
- Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience. Child Development, 71(3), 543-562.