Energy

There are many different meanings for this one word but in the context of this writing, I’m using it to refer to how other people make us feel. It’s the invisible vibes that we get when we talk to someone, spend time in our favourite places (yes I mean Hawai’i, but also nature), the thing that connects us and that makes us want to spend more time around others. And less around some.  

I love the beauty of my neighbourhood

This morning when I finally stopped hitting snooze and resetting my alarm for a later time, I woke up and had a feeling I just couldn’t shake, a bad energy. Last night I had a poor sleep because one of my condo neighbours had a large gathering of friends and they were LOUD. One of the things I love about living in my building is how generally quiet and respectful people are of the fact that we are living in close proximity to others. It’s a beautiful neighbourhood on the western edge of the Calgary city limits and I chose to purchase a smaller unit here over a larger unit elsewhere because of how this area makes me feel. Because of its energy.

I had politely informed the group at 10:25pm that they couldn’t be outside any longer as it was well past the condo’s noise restriction by-law of 10pm, people had to get up for work, and frankly they were really loud. They were polite and apologized; I breathed a sigh of relief about how well the conversation went and got back into bed, put in my earplugs and restarted the sleep mediation I was listening to. The energy was good.

I was later woken up twice, the second time prompting me to go outside, and amidst a sleepy brain, tell them off. One guaranteed way to get me mad is to mess with my sleep. I’m going to confidently bet that I’m far from alone here. Confronting someone in this way doesn’t make me feel good. I much prefer to have a conversation, addressing the facts with a relaxed but confident tone at regular volume. This situation messed with my energy. I struggled to get back to sleep, and not just because I could still hear the voices and music from inside their condo. You know when you’re involved in a situation that’s not so positive and it leaves you feeling off? That’s how I felt and it’s also how I woke up this morning. My energy was negative and that’s not my usual vibe.

I just couldn’t shake it. So I chose to write about it, because writing is part of my personal therapy. Yesterday I spent some time reflecting on conversations I’ve had with neighbours (I’ve got some really great ones!) and friends over the past few days. I’ve noticed how true connection, being vulnerable, and supporting one another positively impacts my energy. It’s the deep conversations where we share our challenges, our insecurities and our biggest dreams that fill me up. I thrive on this type of energy and though I’m guilty of complaining, I realize that the less of this I do and participate in, the better I feel. The better my energy is and the more that I can accomplish in my life.

Happy in our ‘hood

So while we can’t totally avoid the situations that bring out the negative energy in us, we can offset it by spending more time connecting with people who make us feel good. My plan is to apologize to my neighbour about my midnight freak out and let him know where I was coming from. I personally think it’s important that we own up to when we may have negatively impacted someone else’s energy as this allows relationships to heal. The good news? My energy is already feeling back to normal.