Send us your thoughts!

Dr. Julie Merriman explores the concept of decluttering your energy as a vital component of sustainable, holistic self-care for helping professionals. She examines how professional helpers constantly absorb, process, and navigate various forms of energy that can become cluttered and lead to burnout.

• Energy clutter manifests as mental noise, emotional residue, unclear boundaries, environmental chaos, and physical tension
• Symptoms include feeling drained despite rest, difficulty focusing, irritability, procrastination, resentment, physical symptoms, and loss of joy
• Impact of unmanaged energy clutter leads to reduced effectiveness, impaired relationships, and loss of meaning in your work
• Mental decluttering strategies include mindful breaks, thought downloads/journaling, and single-tasking
• Emotional decluttering requires rituals of release, conscious emotional expression, and self-compassion practices
• Relational decluttering involves boundary setting, conscious communication, and conducting energy audits of relationships
• Physical and environmental decluttering focuses on workspace optimization, movement, proper rest, and nature connection

Visit juliemerrimanphd.com to subscribe to the weekly email for more resources on preventing burnout and compassion fatigue and the free bonus PDF she creates for you each week.