Energy drinks are full of energy – caffeine, guarana, taurine. You drink one, you get pumped and ready to conquer the world. Ready to hit the gym, ready to start a new business, ready to build wealth. You become a goal-driven machine.
But energy drinks are unhealthy. The stimulants increase your blood pressure and anxiety, they give you mood swings and migraines, and they screw up your sleep cycle.
Many health experts stay away from energy drinks. But we don’t avoid the culture that motivates consuming energy drinks, the culture of overachievement.
Energy drink culture says our self-worth is based on our accomplishments. Instead of caffeine and taurine, we consume fruit smoothies and high-protein breakfasts… to achieve physical fitness, start a new venture, and build wealth. Which by themselves are fine. But we’re consuming the same unhealthy mindset.
The culture of overachievement is unhealthy. It increases your blood pressure and anxiety, it gives you mood swings and migraines, and it screws up your sleep cycle.
The symptoms of energy drinks and energy drink culture are the same. You can’t be healthy if you consume the culture behind energy drinks, no matter how healthy the labels of your drinks are.
Many influencers hype energy drink culture, and we follow along. Influencers are super buff (creating a spike in testosterone replacement therapy), super beautiful (creating a spike in cosmetics sales and surgeries), and super successful (creating a spike in self-achievement spending so we can be just like them).
You see these influencers, and they ‘inspire’ you. You listen to David Goggins, you put on high-energy music. And you fill your life with “DOING” in order to escape that feeling that you’re not enough by simply BEING.
Because if you pause for a moment, you might notice there’s a discomfort with standing still. And then you face the question, are you running from that discomfort instead of moving forward in fullness?
Achievements don’t create lasting fulfillment. We all know the myth of getting married and “living happily ever.” Life doesn’t work like that!
SELF-EXPRESSION is the source of fulfillment. To express yourself, first you need to have a clear Self to express. But if you’re chasing self-worth through achievement, you’re miles away from being connected with yourself.
The one activity that helps me feel like enough is meditation. Because I reconnect with myself. I’m amazed at how being entirely present in my body zeroes out my anxiety.
Reconnection helps me feel more love for others. Reconnection helps me sleep better. Reconnection makes me feel like I won’t look back with regret on the way I lived my life, because I feel alive in the present.
But there’s a catch.
Meditation, yoga, hiking, and all the things we do to balance our mind – if we do these activities to optimize our performance, they don’t work because we’re still focused on achievement, not self-expression. That’s why these activities can sometimes feel more like coping than moving towards lasting freedom.
Reconnection needs to be the end in itself for self-expression. From the space of reconnection, you begin to know what activities lead to fulfillment. You won’t be CHASING achievements anymore. You’ll be EXPRESSING what arises from within you.
So reconnect with yourself. Go for a walk. Go do yoga or meditate. Go to the gym. Enjoy a nice meal for the purpose of being present with you. Then from THAT PLACE of connection, LISTEN to your inner voice on how to live your life.
A full life is a life of self-expression, not an endless stimulation of achievement motivation.