How much of the time are you “running on empty”, just struggling to get through the demands of the day without considering your true feelings.
The inner self is about what can’t be seen: feelings, intuition, values, beliefs, personality, thoughts, emotions, fantasies, spirituality, desire, and purpose. In contrast, there is the outer self which is what can be seen and what we present to the world. It generally concerns with material things such as hair or clothes as well as the personas you portray. We usually try to curate our outer self to reflect the best.
Conflict arises when your outer self becomes a habitual pattern at the expense of your true feelings. This conflict often occurs due to spending too little time considering your inner self.
Lately I feel like I have been “running on empty”.
When I imagine my future, all i see is gray. Yet I am working hard and sacrificing sleep in order to get through the demand and responsibility of passing college. When I took the moment to attempt to balance my outer and inner self, I realized I wasn’t sure how I felt about the career path I chose but I also had no desire to figure out what I wanted to change. I also don’t quite feel like the person I present to the world is me.
Trying to find the balance between your outer and inner self can be difficult, but it is important to stay aligned to your inner self as much as your success on the outside. An imbalance can cause stress, feeling of emptiness on the inside, and damage.
If you also feel like you are “running on empty”, take the time to slow down, focus on the moment, and listen to your thoughts as you go about your day. Only you will know what specific changes might help to align you with your true inner self.
Unruly Bodies 
I 100% resonate with this, every day is empty feelings. Just completely drained to the max. Burnout is really the ultimate struggle… school I can deal with, but I can deal with it when I am running optimally and efficiently. Finding balance in and of itself is already so demanding and draining, it’s like no one prepared you to be this exhausted mentally and physically. But, despite all the hardships, we’ll get thru it to find our true selves. It just takes some time and patience, but we’ll get there. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing, I completely see myself in this, running on empty. When I came to this 4 year college, I also took a step back too like at my life trajectory, seeing such a bleak future scared me, but I was already so far in my degree and have been on college for 5 years, it was too late to change majors. I don’t hate my major, I actually still like it a lot, but figuring out what kind of work would I be doing felt like a dead end. I wish I could have switched majors, but realistically I don’t think I would have managed fear far in this major, since it’s a lot of writing for grants to even do things. I understand the worry about the “you” you present to everyone, how everyone sees you, but to do much in life we all have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known/perceived. Make sure to take care of yourself, keeping busy, doing enjoyable things, and even allowing yourself to rest more than usual. Everything is SO stressful and anxiety inducing don’t ever feel bad about taking time to slow down and or focus on yourself and your needs. We’ve all experienced large amounts of condensed trauma in a short amount of time, it’s okay to take a step back and give yourself decompression time. You’re going to make it, your life hasn’t even started yet, amazing and exciting things are just around the corner I’m sure.
Thank you SOO much for sharing this. This is something that i deeply relate to and have been thinking about a lot. Often times, i catch myself just trying to get through things and going through the motions rather than embracing anything. Especially as a college student i feel that are days kind blend together so they seem the same everyday. It makes it hard to get excited for new things. Running on empty is a perfect way to describe it.
Like everyone else said, thanks you so much for sharing this! This is probably one of the most relatable blog posts I have read all semester. I have reached an all time low this semester and so many times sat back and thought, why am I still doing this? why don’t I just give up? and as weird as it seems it gives me some relief to know that I’m not the only one feeling this way. I feel like we all may feel like we’re running on empty but cheers to us for pushing through!
This piece really invoked some self reflection on my part. It made me remember that there was a time in my life where I was simply running on empty, striving for a degree in health sciences that I didn’t care about. And I feel immensely lucky that I got realigned with my passion and began traveling a new path. Seeing and feeling the difference from running on empty to running fulfilled is something I will try not to take for granted, because I never want to go back. Thank you for this piece!
This is so true. I feel like most days I’m just on auto pilot and I’m doing things and barely getting by. Your right about slowing down and listening to your thoughts. I’ve been doing that lately and it helps me stay conscious of my day and feel more connected with myself. Hopefully winter break can give us a good reset. Don’t be too hard on yourself, and make sure to get some good rest!
Once you said “When I imagine my future, all i see is gray. Yet I am working hard and sacrificing sleep in order to get through the demand and responsibility of passing college.”, I understand completely how that feels. I literally feel l am doing all of this for a career that I don’t even know whether I would really enjoy/passionate about. I never got to sit down (or even shadow people) to see what I truly wanted to do. I feel the reason why I am here in college right now is for my parents’ dreams and my dreams of making my family proud of me. Of course, I want to succeed in life and do things in the medical field, but I don’t know if that’s my true passion/pathway. I just feel like I’ve been on autopilot for 3 years now, and now that senior year is here, I’m suddenly feel like I’m manually controlling everything again, and to be honest, it’s scary.
Wow, wow, I really resonated with what you said about what you see when you imagine the future. I know what I want to be but imagining it seems so fantastical that it feels fake, like it’s not for me. I feel like meeting with those who have my career path is impossible, so I’ll never know whether or not it’s really for me. Thank you for the reminder to sit with myself so I can figure things out.
This post really resonated with me, as I’ve been dealing with major burnout recently. There are assignments and tasks I know I need to complete that I think about all the time, and yet the energy to do those tasks is just not there. On top of that, a lot of the strategies I used to use to motivate me to do my work have failed this time around. Regardless of how much sleep I get, there’s a constant state of tiredness that just never leaves my body. At the very least, I hope it gives you some comfort the way it does me to know that other people are experiencing this, and we can get through it together.
This post is beyond relateable. As a somewhat people pleaser, I run on empty too man times to count, helping those around me without ever seeking out much needed help myself.It comes at a mental fatigue takes a toll in different aspects of life. One thing I can find solace in is that I am not the only one that goes through this, it helps to know that we aren’t in it all alone.
I totally relate to this. I have been feelings completely burnt out these past few weeks. I can barely find the energy to do any assignments or study for finals. It is so refreshing to see that we are not alone and that we are all in this together.
I can completely relate. I think it’s the combination of being a college student and being so during a pandemic when many things are already uncertain, that really adds to the feelings of emptiness and disassociation. The fatigue one feels when they’re just powering forward without any real sense of direction always feels like you’re walking on eggshells
What if I make a mistake? What if I should be doing something else? At least its a universal experience if that brings any amount of solace.