The Simple Energy Equation

In true me-style, I've been reflecting on our boat energy audit 😂

It started at 3:00am, when we were woken by blaring alarms notifying us that our brand-new lithium batteries on the boat were almost completely empty.

Within minutes, we were plunged into darkness. Eep!

No power. No equipment. And, apparently, no idea what had gone wrong.

So we spent most of the following day learning about solar harvest, battery state of charge, energy consumption and how lithium battery charging actually works.

After about eight hours of what felt like a crash course in electrical physics, my head hurt a little—but I was also rather proud that I'd managed to follow it at a high level. 😂

My brain has always tried to make sense of complicated subjects, theories and principles by condensing them down into an almost ridiculously simple image or analogy.

And somewhere during our eight-hour electrical education, I realised that underneath all the complexity was a remarkably simple equation:

Energy coming in − energy going out = energy remaining.

Obvious, right?

Apparently it took me eight hours and a 3am blackout to truly appreciate it.

But then I realised that this same basic equation applies to so many other areas of our lives.

I won't nerd out on boat stuff too much, stay with me!

The Boat

How was the energy coming in?

To replenish our lithium batteries that day, we had energy coming in from several sources.

We had solar harvesting quietly throughout the day. Because the batteries had reached such a critically low state, we also needed the engines to provide a stronger initial boost.

Then we had to understand the other side of the equation:

Where was all that energy going?

Fridges. Freezer. Starlink. Fans. Charging devices. Appliances. The inverter. All the things quietly drawing from our energy bank.

And then we found one of our big background loads.

The outdoor ice maker.

It had already made plenty of ice. We hardly used it. We could simply transfer the ice into the freezer and turn the machine off until we actually needed another batch.

One switch.

One unnecessary drain removed.

And suddenly the entire energy equation changed.

That fascinated me.

Because not every drain is dramatic.

Some things simply sit quietly in the background, consuming energy because we've never stopped to ask:

Why am I still powering this?

The Financial Energy Equation

The same principle applies to finances.

We have energy—or money—coming in from different sources.

Some income streams might be like solar: steady, relatively passive, quietly doing their job in the background.

Others might be like running the engines: powerful bursts of income that require more effort, resources and attention and aren't necessarily designed to run continuously.

Then there is consumption.

We have our predictable ongoing loads (expenses): mortgage repayments, insurance, internet, phones, food, utilities.

And then there are the big draws (the whoppers): a holiday, a new car, a major repair, an unexpected medical bill.

If income consistently exceeds expenditure, we create a surplus.

And that surplus creates something extremely important:

reserve.

Because the healthiest energy equation isn't simply having enough coming in to cover what is going out.

It's having enough left over that the system can comfortably absorb the unexpected.

The Importance of Reserve

This was another insight from our battery adventure.

A system operating at 5% capacity might technically still be functioning.

The lights are still on.

The fridge is still cold.

Everything looks okay.

Until something unexpected happens.

Then suddenly the system has no capacity to absorb another load.

Financially, the same thing happens when someone is earning exactly what they spend. Technically, the equation balances. But an unexpected expense can destabilise the whole system because there is no reserve.

And I started wondering:

What does this look like in us?

What does a person operating with healthy energetic reserve look like compared with someone constantly operating close to empty?

When we have reserve, there is room.

Room for the difficult conversation.

Room for our child having a meltdown.

Room for the unexpected change of plans.

Room for someone else needing us.

Room for a bad night's sleep.

Room to give.

Room to create.

Room to play.

Room to respond rather than simply react.

Healthy reserve doesn't mean that difficult things don't affect us.

It means we have enough capacity to absorb life's fluctuations without the entire system collapsing.

Reserve creates resilience.

But Is the Energy Actually Getting In?

There was another important part of our boat audit.

It wasn't enough to know that the sun was shining.

We needed to know whether our solar panels were actually harvesting that sunlight efficiently.

Were they clean?

Were they shaded?

Were the charge controllers working?

Was the energy actually reaching the batteries?

And I realised there is another dimension to our energy equation.

It isn't simply about how much energy is available to us.

It's also about our capacity to receive it.

Someone can take a holiday and spend the entire week mentally at work.

Someone can be surrounded by people willing to support them but feel unable to ask for—or receive—help.

Someone can sit down to rest while their mind continues racing through everything they "should" be doing.

The input is technically there.

But how much of it is actually reaching the battery?

Sometimes we don't need another solar panel.

Sometimes we need to check whether we're actually receiving the energy already available to us.

When the Gauge Is Wrong

There was one more rather important discovery during our electrical education.

Our battery gauge wasn't correctly calibrated.

We thought we had more energy available than we actually did.

Which is how we ended up being serenaded by alarms at 3am before the entire boat went black. 😂

And that made me wonder about our own internal gauges.

How often do we tell ourselves:

I'm fine.

I can do one more thing.

I'll rest after this.

It's not that bad.

I should be able to handle this.

Perhaps we've been functioning depleted for so long that depleted has become our normal.

Sometimes the problem isn't simply that we're using too much energy.

Sometimes our gauge needs recalibrating.

We need to stop and honestly assess where we actually are.

Energetic Bankruptcy

So what happens when consumption continually exceeds input?

On the boat, we now know.

Total blackout. 😂

No equipment. No lights. No power. No reserve.

Financially, the trajectory is equally familiar.

Savings disappear. Credit cards compensate for the shortfall. Debt accumulates. Eventually, if the equation isn't corrected, there is the possibility of financial insolvency or bankruptcy.

And what might the human equivalent look like?

Perhaps it begins much more quietly.

Over-giving.

Poor boundaries.

Constant mental stimulation.

Doom-scrolling.

Relationships that consistently take more than they give.

Old commitments we've outgrown.

Perfectionism.

Trying to manage other people's emotions.

Negative or limiting belief systems quietly consuming enormous amounts of internal energy.

Unresolved stress.

Constantly anticipating everyone else's needs.

None of these necessarily causes an immediate blackout.

They are more like appliances quietly running in the background.

A little energy here.

A little there.

Until one day there is very little reserve left.

In my clinical work, I have often seen people arrive describing some combination of exhaustion, low motivation, anxiety, racing thoughts, poor sleep, tension, headaches or simply a feeling that they don't quite feel like themselves anymore.

Of course, these experiences can have many physiological, psychological and medical causes and deserve appropriate investigation.

But from an energetic perspective, I also find the question interesting:

What has this person been powering?

Where is their energy going?

What replenishes them?

And how much reserve do they have left?

The Energy Audit

We routinely audit important systems.

On the boat, we check our battery state of charge, solar harvest and power consumption.

Financially, we look at bank statements, budgets, cash flow and investments.

But how often do we conduct an audit of our own energy?

Perhaps we could occasionally ask:

What is my current state of charge?

What reliably replenishes me?

Am I actually receiving that replenishment?

Where is my energy going?

What are my biggest necessary loads?

What is quietly running in the background?

What am I still powering simply because I've always powered it?

Are there relationships, habits, commitments or belief systems that have passed their use-by date?

And perhaps most importantly:

Am I consistently building reserve, maintaining it—or slowly draining it?

Awareness Before Change

The first step in every one of these systems is awareness.

We couldn't change our boat's energy consumption until we could see where the power was going.

We can't change our financial position without understanding what is coming in and what is going out.

And we can't consciously change our own energetic patterns until we become aware of where our energy is being generated, received, spent and lost.

Sometimes we can do that ourselves.

Sometimes we need an expert who understands the system.

For our boat, that's Tasos, our electrician, who can look at a complicated electrical system and see things we simply don't know how to see.

For finances, it might be a financial planner or a proactive accountant.

For our own wellbeing, it may be a kinesiologist, therapist, practitioner, coach, healer or another trusted professional who can help us see our system from a perspective we cannot access from inside it.

The goal isn't to hoard our energy.

We didn't install batteries on the boat so we could proudly keep them at 100% and never use them.

Energy is meant to be used.

Money is meant, in part, to be spent.

And our own energy is here to be expressed—to love, parent, work, create, contribute, explore, play and experience this life.

The goal isn't to eliminate every drain or protect our energy so fiercely that we stop living.

The goal is to create a healthy cycle of receiving, using and replenishing energy while maintaining enough reserve to remain resilient.

Because a healthy energy system isn't one that never experiences heavy demand.

It's one that has the capacity to meet that demand, recover from it, and replenish

again.

And sometimes, restoring that balance begins with something really simple:

Finding the ice maker that's been quietly running in the background, and turning the bloody thing off. 😂

Love,

Kim