For When We Hit ‘Empty’
Word Count: 650
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes
We all know those times when we’ve hit empty. Nothing left to give.
During one such season of my life, my morning alarm was set to Jewel’s ‘Deep Water’: “When you're standing in deep water, and you're bailing yourself out with a straw...”
You know: e.m.p.t.y. That is when we find ourselves in: Depletion Mode.
1) Depletion Mode
Disruption after disruption slams us—things feel stuck, unraveling, chaotic, overwhelming. It’s as though life is insisting:
Not this way.
Not in this direction.
Not with this kind of action.
Not from this motivation.
We may not know what is right—but something has to change.
And yet, when we’re empty, finding a new way forward can feel impossible.
So we keep pushing forward, doing the best we can.
How do we shift the cycle? Without requiring the break, the loss, the illness, the transition that forces everything into question to force us?
We listen.
Yet, when life keeps throwing disruptions, it’s hard to hear ourselves—our own wisdom, the quiet nudges of inspiration or insight—and even when we do manage to hear something, we often don’t have the capacity to respond. It’s all just... too much.
In times like this, even the smallest changes in action can begin to shift the cycle of disruption towards: Restoring Mode
2) Restoring Mode
One night of good sleep...
Followed by a day of truly nourishing food...
A mind-clearing walk outside...
Five minutes of restorative meditation, reflective writing, or journaling…
And a little energy sneaks in.
A small crack opens, and we can begin to hear what we couldn’t before. Then arrives a flicker of inspiration. A quiet ah-ha. A shift in perspective.
With that, we have just a bit more hunger to respond. And when we do respond, inspiration invites its friends! More insight. Another ah-ha.
We tend to forget, as adults, how essential the life basics still are.
As parents, we know how deeply sleep, food, movement, and rest affect our children. The same remains true for us.
Returning to these basics—with self-regard, care, curiosity, and a design mindset based on who we are now, what our bodies need today, and what life is asking of us—can be the foundation for changing everything.
They not only help us feel more resourced, they also care for and help prevent the chronic illnesses of modernity: heart disease, cognitive decline, metabolic syndrome, cancer, autoimmunity.
In our complex world, keeping ourselves whole—moment by moment—amid personal and professional storms might be all we can do.
And, that may be enough. So begins a positive feedback loop:
Daily, intentional choices—starting with sleep, food, movement, restoration—offer us more energy and more capacity to hear inspiration when it moves through us, and more courage and energy to respond.
Changes growing quietly.
One followed by another.
A glass of water before your morning coffee.
A mindful, deep breath in the middle of the chaos.
Saying “no” to something you genuinely do not want to do.
These small acts, done consistently, aren’t flashy—but they are powerful —and cumulative.
They begin to shift our baseline.
3) Resourcing Mode
Then come the moments that move us—not because we have to change, but because something in us wants to.
A nudge. A gut-level truth that wakes us up to what we already knew.
Listening to and honoring these nudges—with ongoing intentional actions—begins to reduce the frequency, intensity, and relentlessness of disruption.
Life no longer has to smack us over the head to be heard. It can conspire with us.
So much in life is beyond our sphere of influence or control—there will always be disruptions.
But here’s the remarkable part: through caring for our foundational practices, we become co-creative designers of our own lives—more resourced, and more able to generatively respond to life’s disruptions as they arise.
That’s the positive feedback loop.
This kind of change isn’t viral. It’s cellular.
Fractally Whole exists to support you through such thresholds—> from Depletion Mode to Restoring Mode to Resourcing Mode.
Not with cookie-cutter plans, but with custom, organic, context-informed, whole-person support—to help you hear yourself and the wisdom living through you—and to respond with action.
Because those working to reshape the world deserve spaces where they too get to be reshaped—on their terms.
The question isn’t can we change and grow.
It’s: What kind of space do we need to change and grow well?
