I’m writing to you today from sunny Puerto Vallarta. I’m here for a little while to escape the icy subzero weather where I live in Canada.

Being a highly sensitive introvert, my environment has a major impact on my energy levels. Unfortunately, so do about a billion other things. 

As a fellow introvert (or innie lover), I’m sure you’re all too familiar with introvert energy struggles. It’s frustrating to go through life wanting to do so much more than your limited energy allows. 

Take my trip to Puerto Vallarta, for example. I enjoy my time here, but I often feel guilty. I feel like I should be doing more cool, exciting things.

But I also need to save my energy for work. Too much outing and abouting and my creativity levels drop like a thermometer in a Canadian winter.

You might constantly feel a similar sense of guilt, as you try to honor your introvert energy needs while also pursuing your goals. 

Sometimes, you feel like you’re doing everything right. You’re spending enough time alone, and taking care of your body and mind. And yet, you still have no energy.

The truth is that you could unknowingly be leaking energy to ‘dead leaves’. Allow me to explain.

Stop wasting energy on dead leaves

If you subscribe to my email updates, you might have heard me mention my houseplant, Cash (he’s a money tree). 

A while ago, Cash had a few dead leaves and I wondered if I should leave them there or cut them off. 

The Google Gods said that I should trim off the dead leaves so that the tree didn’t waste energy on them. A lightbulb went on.

Just as plants need to shed dead leaves, so do we. If we don’t get rid of the things that no longer serve us, we will continue to waste energy on them. 

The dead leaves of our lives will never come back to life. We have to find them and cut them off from our precious energy supply so that we can thrive. 

So what are the dead leaves in your life?

Do a quick audit of your work, relationships, and habits, and pinpoint what is no longer serving you.

By “no longer serving”, I mean things that take more than they give and ultimately hold you back from your ideal life.

It could be a bad habit that distracts you from your goals. Or a person who you just don’t jive with anymore. Or maybe it’s an aspect of your work that feels heavy and pointless. 

Whatever it is, it’s time to cut it off, so that you can flourish. Because here’s the thing.

You DESERVE to flourish, dearest. You don’t have to suffer and struggle through life. Do the hard things now so that your tomorrows will feel light and free.

For more introvert insights and inspiration, grab a copy of my book The Year of the Introvert: A Journal of Daily Inspiration for the Inwardly Inclined. 

It’s the perfect daybook to help you start the year off right.

Love,