The Infinite Drain: Why You are Exhausted (And It's Not Your Workload)

In my decades working as a reporter and portrait photographer, I learned to track the unspoken. I learned to watch the subtle shift in a shoulder, the micro-clench of a jaw before a shutter clicked, the quiet avoidance in a subject's eyes.

But the most toxic things we carry are the ones we pretend aren't there.

I call them Open Loops.

We are taught to treat our lives, careers, and days like linear spreadsheets. We rationalize. We say:

• "I'll have that difficult boundary conversation next quarter."

• "I'll apologize for my reaction when things calm down."

• "I'll follow that wild, creative impulse when the project is delivered."

We put off the truth because it isn't "efficient" or "rational" in the moment.

But human biology doesn't operate on spreadsheets. Your nervous system keeps score. Every unclosed loop—every unresolved boundary, every ignored hunch, every unmade apology—is an active program running in your background.

It silently eats your daily voltage, leaving you bone-tired at 3:00 PM even if you’ve "just been sitting at your desk."

True sovereignty means doing the forensic work to close the tabs. It means realizing that honoring a fleeting, irrational, magical impulse in the moment is how we keep our battery charged.

Look at your own landscape today:

• Where is an open loop draining your power?

• What tab do you need to courageously close before the sun goes down?

Stop letting the ghosts run your battery down.

🎥 Dive deeper into tracking your open loops in this week’s video: https://youtu.be/wg7LL1XpCRg

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liz@soulnorthwayfinding.com

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