How to honor your capacity
FLUX IS OUR NATURE
Our capacity is not fixed. It morphs day to day and month to month depending on the cacophony that life presents to us— shifting internal balance, workload, family obligations, transitions, grief, and a nervous system influenced by a chaotic world.
How it shapes our daily rhythm —
Many people have the idea that achieving a state of health means being able to accomplish (and sustain) doing it all. This mindset backfires when after a couple low capacity days crop up and the narrative shifts to “I always get back here” creating all or nothing behavior and making it more likely to ditch the progress made.
I recommend identifying 2-4 core non-negotiable daily habits that withstand even the lowest end of your capacity. This way, even if that’s all you manage to do for your body in a day, you can rest assured you met your baseline needs.
The key is to make it genuinely realistic. Though different for everyone, some common ones my clients come up with are:
Eat 2–3 meals a day
Go for one walk / get outside at some point
Commit to a personal hygiene routine AM + PM
Sleep a minimum of 6 hours
Drink at least 4 glasses of water in a day
Get dressed every morning— even when WFH
Exercise at least once a week
Take supplements
These might sound basic, but that’s the point. Oftentimes we neglect our most primal needs when feeling out of it. The goal isn’t to permanently hover here, but to honor that some days are more momentous and easier to flow through than others, but you know your baseline regardless.
Lastly, I’d be remiss to not acknowledge that we live in a capitalist society that has sold us conformity, perfection, and productivity as virtues. A balanced body and fortified nervous system rely on regularly slowing down in order to pace correctly which means resisting adopting that mindset is a form of activism. Don’t let the low days derail you— like the practice of mindfulness, simply acknowledge its presence, let it pass, and keep on the track where you had left off.
Things that increase capacity —
Deep sleep
Sunlight
Nature
Creativity
Music
Following your intuition
Not taking on too much at once
Awe and gratitude
Unscheduled free time
Quality time with loved ones