If you’re having a disagreement with your significant other, or you’re at an event that requires you to grin and bear difficult people, you may start to feel emotionally drained after a while. And that’s OK. Your ability to handle your emotions, or the emotions of others, doesn’t last all day.

Your emotional bandwidth refers to how much energy you have to manage and process emotions as well as respond effectively to the emotions of those around you. Once that energy is gone, you can feel exhausted, irritated or annoyed. 

If your emotional bandwidth is constantly being drained, and you’re struggling to recharge it, you can feel burned out or overwhelmed. Learning how to protect and rebuild your emotional energy (sometimes referred to as a battery) is important for everyone, especially those who are prone to negative emotions stemming from generalized anxiety disorder or major depressive disorder. 

Everyone recharges their battery differently. Some people, often more introverted people, are able to recharge by being alone and taking time to themselves. More extroverted people boost their battery by being with those they care about. Regardless of your personality, your emotional battery deserves protection and support.

If you’re trying to protect your emotional bandwidth (and learn how to rebuild it once it’s depleted), here are a few things to try:

• Recognize situations that can drain your bandwidth.

Learning to protect your emotional capacity often starts with figuring out what situations chip away at it. By recognizing those circumstances, you can either say no to being involved in them, or properly prepare if they’re unavoidable.

Take a mental and emotional inventory after events, conversations or tasks that involve a lot of energy. If you’re having more negative thoughts and emotions after an event than you did before it started, that might be an instance that you want to avoid or emotionally prepare for in the future. 

Examples include:

• Dates
• Family gatherings
• Gossiping with friends
• Trips
• Long periods of isolation

• Set boundaries. 

Protecting your emotional bandwidth means setting limits before it can even be affected. When saying no to a potentially draining circumstance isn’t possible, perhaps due to being a work requirement or an important family celebration, there are still boundaries you can reinforce.

A boundary is essentially a rule that helps to protect your emotional bandwidth. It’s a limit that should be respected by others. It’s also a limit that you may have to push yourself to stick to if you tend to put others before yourself.

Boundaries that can help protect your emotional capacity include:

• Asking a person to listen to your troubles instead of them giving advice
• Setting a time limit for how long you stay at an event 
• Physically stepping away or taking a break to regulate your emotions

• Do something that helps you relax.

A helpful way to recharge your emotional bandwidth is to focus on what’s best for you and what brings you positive emotions. “Turning your brain off” isn’t easy, but it can be helpful to do when you’re mentally and emotionally tired. This is where many self-care activities come into play.

Try to take time for a relaxing self-care activity on a regular basis, but especially following an emotionally draining situation. A few examples include:

• Listening to comforting music
• Reading
• Spending time in nature
• Practicing mindful meditation

• Talk to a mental health professional.

If you’re reading this, trying to figure out how to manage your emotional bandwidth, then you may currently be experiencing mental health challenges. If you’re having trouble understanding your emotional capacity, you might be having issues that impact your quality of life, such as your relationships with others and your sense of self. A mental health professional, such as a licensed therapist, can help.

A therapist can help you gain a deeper understanding of what impacts your emotional capacity and how to manage it to improve your mental well-being. They’ll help you learn how to set boundaries and prioritize your own well-being.

If your emotional challenges are causing overwhelming distress that’s affecting your everyday life, you may need support beyond regular outpatient therapy sessions. At Lightfully, we can help you move along your mental health journey, including improved emotional regulation and awareness.

Our four levels of care are:

• Residential Treatment
• Partial Hospitalization Program 
• Intensive Outpatient Program
• Virtual Services (vPHP/vIOP)

Change is possible. When you’re ready to take the first step, reach out to our Admissions Concierge Team. We’ll take the next steps together, toward the fullest, brightest version of you.