What does ‘protecting our energy’ actually mean? A song to help us tap into the feeling

Pa Salieu’s 2020 single “Energy” can help us internalize what it means to protect it.

Happy Sunday, y’all. We’re back after an unplanned (and unaddressed) week off because — well, as it turns out, there aren’t many creative brain cells left after being laid-off (along with 100+ of your colleagues) from a job that had become much bigger than a source of income.

Especially when that happens within 120 days of ending a longterm relationship and discovering your dog has (effectively) untreatable cancer.

But this isn’t a pity party; it’s a service. So let’s get into it.

The concept of “protecting your energy” always felt inaccessible; an idea that never felt deeper than words strung together into an aspirational statement with no practical application.

But a post shared by an old friend in the wake of the election results reframed this for me.

It was an Instagram Story, so I don’t have the precise post to share, only a faulty memory to rely on, so bear with me. But it was a quote that essentially argued: Giving too much time and space to anxious feelings before a battle even begins is a waste of the energy we’ll need to actually fight it.

Energy, as much as our egos don’t want to admit it, is a finite resource tied to other finite resources that dictate our lives — time, attention, care. And the more we allow outside influences to shape how we spend those resources without a conscious filter, the higher the risk we run of living an inauthentic life.

Of course, that isn’t to say outside influences do not or should not have a role in shaping how we dedicate those resources — we are, in part, a product of the company we keep and the environments we spend our time in. But without diligent ongoing consideration of which outside influences to listen to, we surrender control of the process, and invite anxiety in.

Anxiety that takes a toll on those resources.

Especially energy.

Protecting our energy not only helps us weather the battles this life forces us to fight, but to live as authentically as we can, it’s up to us to filter which outside influences to give credence to and which to reject (for now or forever).

That extends to the media we consume — the diet of ideas we entertain — which is central to the system of beliefs that fuel this project.

When we’re diligent about how we spend our time, dedicate our attention, and invest our care, I would argue we’re shaping our “energy;” how much of it we have at a given time and how it impacts our emotional well-being.

All of which is rooted in the spirit of Take Me To Church — a “place” to process our emotions with music as part of that overall diet of outside influences that shape how we feel. But unlike past TMTC recommendations, which were made in part to help us process emotions humans aren’t naturally inclined to want to feel, this week’s recommendation is intended to help us form an association with this idea of “protecting our energy” through diligent filtering.

Pa Salieu is a British Gambian artist who released “Energy” with Mahalia in 2020, rapping about this precise idea over what I’d characterize as an uplifting track that clocks in at 112 beats per minute, making it faster than a “relaxing” song, which I’d argue makes the emotional effect stickier.

Because it is so on-the-nose, there is no lyrical reflection or suggested way to listen to this one. Instead, I’ll leave you with a reminder of bilateral stimulation — a technique used in EMDR therapy to help patients form new associations with memories by engaging both sides of the brain.

Listen while you’re walking or moving along to the beat. Hum or sing along to it. And protect your energy.

See you next Sunday.