The role of personality

What does personality have to do with our energy barrel model and our life energy?

Well, you could say that it depends on a person’s essential attitude or personality which things stress and burden him, particularly in our four primary areas, and which things do not upset and burden him. It also depends on the personality which things are particularly satisfying for the individual, i.e., where he can quickly gain energy, especially for himself, and which things may look attractive but ultimately give him little or no power. In addition, one could say that specific injuries and experiences that shape the personality, so to speak, to stick with the image of the energy barrel, can cause minor or more significant cracks in our barrel, from which additional energy seeps through, which we may overlook consciously.

So, the energy model applies equally to all people—just like the principle that no more can be spent than what was taken. However, people differ considerably in how much energy they spend on individual things, and it is important to get to know each other better to assess that.

Imagine a person who has a very extroverted personality, who is sociable, and who enjoys reaching out to other people. This person has to change jobs that require moving to a distant new city. Now, he has lost a large part of his circle of friends. However, he sees rebuilding his social network as a challenge; it is fun for him, and he looks forward to meeting new people and maybe also trying to maintain old contacts despite the distance. The subjective load (i.e., ultimately, the energy lost from the barrel) is not high here.

Now, we take a person with a personality that is somewhat shy of contact, more of a loner, who does not feel very comfortable in a social group, and who usually only has one or two more intensive contacts. The exact external change (moving) can be a significantly more stressful event for this person. It may take so much effort to approach new people that he doesn’t even try it or gives up after a few attempts. His energy inflow from the important contacts of his social network does not materialize – but a new inflow may not arise at all. So, this situation can be much more difficult for a person with the described personality, and it costs much more energy.

But it could also be different – the solitary person has got a job in a new city that suits him very well – he sits at his computer and no longer has to deal with as many people as at his previous job, where he constantly had to deal with dissatisfied customers via the hotline. This change of work content has become much more relaxing for him, so much less energy flows away here than before, so he may still have enough power to re-establish a new social network with new friends and sports and leisure mates.

Knowing your personality helps you recognize what you need to balance your energy and what is particularly threatening. It also teaches you how to help yourself by better understanding your inclinations and needs.