The reservoir is an analogy I use to help people understand resource management.  It helps demonstrate how our emotional needs are met and managed. Each one of us has a reservoir of energy that we function on, and as we go throughout the day, we have things that drain us. Some are big and some are little—from as little as the shirt that I want to wear isn’t clean all the way to really big drains like a car accident or a death. 

What’s at the bottom of a pond or a reservoir? Have you ever stepped into a pond? It’s muddy and yucky. So when we get down to the bottom of our reservoir, what are we functioning on? I call it “Suck’n Mud.” Our resources get used, or in other words, the reservoir gets drained every day — that is why we have resources, so that we can do the things we need/want to do. Draining the reservoir is a normal part of every-day life, which means that it’s important for us to manage the process of being drained as we go throughout the day. Some of the things that drain us can be fixed, like if we’re really tired, we can take a nap. If we hate our job, and that’s draining our energy, we can look for a new one. Some drains can’t be fixed. If a loved one dies, there’s nothing we can do to fix that. If we have a chronic illness, all we can do is manage it, we can’t patch it. If there’s a global pandemic, we can’t fix that.