Today, I share an article by my friend Laurie Erdman! She is an amazing woman dedicated to helping others step into energetic living.
Laurie is known as The Get More Energy Superhero and is founder of the From Fatigued to Fabulous System TM. THE proven step-by-step method that teaches working women (and men) how to double their energy, get more done and still have time for themselves. To get your FREE 3 Superhero Tips For Doubling Your Energy In Less Than 30 Days by e-mail and receive her weekly health and energetic life mindset articles on getting more energy, overcoming and preventing chronic illness and dramatically increasing your happiness factor, visit www.laurieerdman.com.
The Art Of Overcoming Extreme Fatigue
I’m tired of talking about food for energy.
There – I said it. What a relief.
Don’t get me wrong, I love kale, green juice and South American superfoods. But what I find has happened over the last few years is I’ve painted myself and my readers into an imaginary box. A box labeled “diet is a cure-all.” I didn’t mean to, but now I want to make amends. 
It was two days after Christmas, just four days after I was diagnosed with MS that I turned to my nutrition books and began to assemble a dietary plan that is now known as the Get Up & Go Diet SystemTM. I wanted a way to reduce the inflammation that was running rampant in my body. Food was the first thing I turned to because that is what I knew. It was easy.
The nutrient dense diet played a key role in my recovering my youthful energy, losing weight and stopping MS in it’s tracks. But it wasn’t the whole story.
There was also the lifestyle piece. Like doing yoga. Meditating. Bodywork. Guided imagery. I also stopped setting my alarm, allowing myself to get 8 hours of sleep. I spent time in solitude.
And all of this worked. The proof is in the dairy-free pudding.
But if you think that diet is the only ingredient in my transformation story then let me fill you in on the whole picture.
A few weeks ago I was having a bit of an identity crisis. I love what I do, but calling myself a health coach was not feeling right any more. I was noticing something was happening in my work that I hadn’t anticipated when I heard the calling to become a coach. In my client sessions, I noticed we were rarely talking about food, diet or exercise. Instead we were talking about dreams, fears, desires, doubts, worries, shame and love.
I finished each session energized and my clients were ecstatic. Real change was happening.
It hit me. This was where the magic happens.
But what was happening?
As I was sharing my experience with my friends Lissa Rankin and Fred Kraziese over lunch, it occurred to us that what I was serving up to my clients was love with a side of kale. Indeed, that is how I healed my life – with love.
Healing your life, getting more energy, and living a fulfilling life all comes down to love. Yeah, that’s a tweetable. Click here to tweet.
Don’t get me wrong, I still believe healing and overcoming fatigue begins in the kitchen. But creating a fabulous life culminates in your heart. Getting more energy is an inside job.
I talk about living with purpose. Love is the ultimate purpose. It doesn’t matter what you do to bring in the pasture-raised bacon, what matters is the amount of love you spread in your world.
I know this may sound all touchy feely and you want concrete actions. So here are three places to start making shifts in your thinking to open yourself to love. But remember, you have to do the work. You have to dig deep. You have to look inside. When the fatigue, overwhelm and fear strike big time, there is no substitute for crawling under the house and peaking around.
1. Shift your questions. “Why does this always happen to me?” “Why can’t I get a break?” These are common questions we ask ourselves when living with extreme fatigue. These questions close the door to a different and better future. Instead, start to ask better questions. For example, “what can I learn from this?” “Is it true?” (Thank you Byron Katie).
2. Shift your energy. It’s easy to spiral into negativity when you are fatigued. But negativity begets negativity. Every emotion has an energy level. The darker the emotion, the lower the energy. We know this intuitively. Think of the last time you were around someone who was really worried about something in your life. It brought you down right?
Well next time you are feeling a low vibration emotion, see if you can shift it up the vibrational ladder. Can you go from fear to insecurity? Can you go from insecurity to jealousy? Can you go from doubt to pessimism? What about boredom to contentment? Ah, how does that feel? Shift your way up the vibrational ladder until you reach love. Woohoo!
3. Shift the magnitude. Many people, including myself, have at one time or another suffered from the “attitude of magnitude.” That is when we think things are or will be worse than they really are. We have an attitude that everything is too big to handle. To combat this attitude, begin to see things as they really are. “Are you broke?” “Are you as bad off as you could be?” “Do you have the ability to make better choices?” “Have you made better choices?” Begin to shrink the size of your situation and this leaves you open to love.
All these questions, insights and practices help you move from fear, worry, and doubt to joy, happiness and love. From love, we begin to see the good around us. We begin to shine our own light on our life and upon others. We begin to live in technicolor.
So I challenge you to begin making little shifts this week. Shift to living from your heart.
Is this scary? Uncomfortable? Share your thoughts and comments below.
With love, light and energy,
~~~~ I’m indebted to her for allowing me to share. What ideas did you get for yourself form this?
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This is great, and so full of information! Whilst I don’t suffer from MS, I do feel low in energy, and this looks like a great thing for me to invest some time in 🙂
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Laura Clark Reply:
January 12th, 2013 at 2:58 pm
I’m blessed not to have MS but Laurie is a walking encyclopedia for one and all!
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Comment by Terry — January 12, 2013 @ 1:52 pm
Lots to think about here! I think we reject some of the shifts because we want to feel angry or annoyed or self-righteous. But I will try concentrating on those positive shifts. All the best to you!
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Laura Clark Reply:
January 12th, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Yes, Marilyn, we do tend to want to get on our podiums and blame instead of discover what we can DO…..Thanks for your thoughts!
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Comment by Marilyn J. Rowland — January 12, 2013 @ 2:28 pm
Some great ideas here and good writing as well. I love the conversational quality of it and the clear sense that all of us, are continuing to evolve, to learn to grow and yes, to change our perspective and philosophy. It is always gratifying to read stories where people have gone beyond facing a challenge and made their own journey a service to others. Thank you for sharing this!
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Laura Clark Reply:
January 12th, 2013 at 3:01 pm
Laurie is a walking testament to your point Kathi! I think working with women who have had the courage to walk through fire and then reach back to bring those who are walking through the flames themselves are angels here. And, her writing is good….she’s competing in the Best Health Blogs of 2012 and gaining momentum in the voting http://www.healthline.com/health/best-health-blogs-contest
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Comment by Kathi Laughman — January 12, 2013 @ 2:35 pm
A great post full of wonderful information. Very often self employed people we forget how important it is to look after our own health
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Laura Clark Reply:
January 12th, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Thanks Andrew! you are right…..and, in not looking after their own health they can not be in service to others! Thanks for your wisdom!
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Comment by Andrew Milburn — January 12, 2013 @ 2:39 pm
I have been feeling very fatigued lately and am going to experience a session with an energy healer this week. Hoping it will provide some release of bad energy that I know I need to let go of soon.
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Laura Clark Reply:
January 12th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
Glad you are taking Action!!!! Hope it goes well for you:)
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Comment by Nancy Kay — January 12, 2013 @ 4:35 pm
This is such a fun read with a great message. I’ve learned the power of food choices, too, relative to energy bolstering (or robbing) selections, but none of this matters much if the right attitude isn’t there to make it work. Thanks for sharing.
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Laura Clark Reply:
January 13th, 2013 at 7:35 am
Oh yes, energy UP and energy DOWN foods, they are important choices. Getting the right attitude IS the first step to creating a space where choosing energy UP foods is natural and automatic. thanks for your thoughtful comment!
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Comment by Nanette Levin — January 12, 2013 @ 8:14 pm