The Decider Skills for Self Help online self help course

Battery: Behavioural Activation

The Battery: using energising and enjoyable activities to charge up your own inner resources

Download or print The Battery as PDF

When we feel ok, we do various activities every day, and our energy levels are pretty much ok too. We do the stuff we HAVE to do, and we also have the energy to do other things that we enjoy doing.

When our mood drops. we feel tired, and energy levels and motivation drops. So we do even less.

And when we do less, we feel even worse.
More tired, less energy, less motivation.
Lower mood.

Some activities drain our battery, yet we have to or need to keep doing them, so they DROP our battery level even more. Things like some chores, or family and work responsibilities and demands. After a while, our battery feels empty!

So we need to re-charge our battery by doing LIFT activities which energise us and LIFT our mood. Plan what you can start doing, and start with small steps.

Exercise - especially outside. Start with a 5 or 10 minute gentle walk, preferably in nature.
Do things which give you a sense of achievement - don't aim too high or try to do too much.
Do activities you enjoy doing - or things you USED to enjoy in the past.
Connect or re-connect with friends or family.

When we start going these LIFT activities, our battery recharges. We notice that we start to feel better because our mood and energy levels LIFT.

Make sure you KEEP recharging your battery by doing LIFT activities every day.

Use the Weekly Planner worksheet to plan your daily LIFT activities WeeklyPlanner.pdf

The Battery: LIFT vs DROP Activities - short video