I did an interesting pen and paper exercise last night.

Got an A4 sheet of paper, and drew a line down the middle.

With my favourite fountain pen, on one side I wrote the heading 'Energises'.

On the other side, I wrote the heading 'Drains'.

And under each, I listed the things that energise my life, and the things that drain it, respectively.

Both columns included people, events, activities, pastimes, tastes, sights, actions. Everything.

Now they've been surfaced, the idea is to work on removing the drainers and allowing more space for the energisers.

I'm pleased to report that there are many more energisers than drainers.

I'm down to the last few drainers, but I'm finding them difficult to remove.

I'd classify the handful of drainers as bad habits.

I'm committed to making changes in routines and finding someone to keep me accountable for these changes.

For me, the act of writing surfaces things.

I recommend it.