The Cost of Carrying Others’ Energy
You are wired to feel. In leadership you absorb tension, take on burdens you’ve not been asked to carry, and become a living battery for others’ expectations. But here’s the painful truth: carrying others’ energy drains your capacity to carry your own purpose. In Shine we teach that boundaries aren’t just tools; they are survival mechanisms for your True Self.
When you walk into a room, you often leave with more than you came with. You might take on your team’s anxiety, your board’s stress, your family’s unspoken disappointment. Over time that becomes a backlog of emotional debt, a stealth-weight you lug into your bed. You wake up exhausted, less creative, less resilient.
Start with this daily check-in. At day’s end ask: “What feelings did I take from others today?” Write them. Then ask: “Which of these belong to me?” If the answer is none or partly none, practice detachment. You can honour someone’s pain without embodying it. You can listen without holding. You can support without absorbing.
Create a physical ritual: thirty seconds, palms open, breathe, picture the energy you’re releasing flowing out your fingertips. Do this after any meeting that leaves you charged. Mark that energy as “not mine to carry”. When you stop carrying the weight of others, you reclaim space for your own vision. Your team starts carrying themselves. Your creativity flourishes. Your leadership becomes a light, not a drain.
Stay Focused,
Gino