To do lists are out, energy lists are in

A few weeks ago, after I got home from dropping the kids at school, I warmed up my English Breakfast tea, grabbed my laptop, and headed to the backyard, sinking into one of our new chaise longues.

The sun was still low, warm on my pale legs. Birds were chattering in the trees, and a little eastern cottontail bunny hopped through the yard. It should’ve felt idyllic.

But instead of calm clarity, I felt...blank.
Not anxious. Not overwhelmed.
Just tired. Disconnected. Like my body was giving a gentle but firm, “No thanks.”

I had a to-do list a mile long, but none of it sparked anything in me.
As I sat there with the sun on my face, I asked:
​What’s weighing on me right now?

Two things popped up immediately:

• Call the dentist for a follow-up

• Schedule my mammogram

Before I could think about it, I grabbed my phone and, within seven minutes, both were done.

I hadn’t tackled my “top priorities.” I hadn’t checked a box on my big weekly goals list. But something in me shifted. I’d stopped leaking energy.

The deeper I go into energy work, the more I start to see everything through that lens.

Like my to-do list.

I started asking:

What if I stopped managing my time and started managing my energy?

It starts with just two questions:

1. What’s draining you?

It’s less about what appears urgent, and more about what’s energetically costly to leave undone.

2. What would fuel you?

We plug the leaks so we can fill up with the good stuff, right?

• Take a walk and leave outrageously long voice memos for your bestie. (Pro tip: send a whole bunch in 2-3 minute chunks, because interruptions happen.)

• Play hooky one afternoon to go to the pool or the museum.

• Order half a dozen oysters to start your lunch on a random Tuesday.

• Or, go bolder. Admit to yourself the dream that’s been bubbling. Start to sketch out your next program that you would be tickled to deliver. Look into what it would take to start your intentional community in the Great Lakes.

This is energetic stewardship.

If your energy’s been feeling off—or like no amount of planning, organizing, or prioritizing is really helping—you might be due for some energetic tending of your own.

That’s what my Reiki for Leaders sessions are for.

In these one-hour sessions, we can clear what’s clogging your field, reconnect with your intuition, and set you up to move forward feeling grounded, spacious, and whole.