Why we need those days
Today is a 70% Wednesday.
I didn't sleep perfectly last night.
The summer heat has been affecting my sleep lately, and my body is also dealing with hormonal changes.
I can feel that my usual 100% aren't quite accessible right now.
But something else is also true:
I feel calm.
I feel emotionally open.
I feel hope and connection.
I feel creative.
I am looking forward to parts of my day.
And despite feeling a little heavier and having slightly less energy than usual, I still feel like myself.
So I thought:
"Maybe today doesn't have to be a bad day just because it isn't a 100% day."
Maybe it's simply a 70% Wednesday.
What percentage of yourself can you access today?
I started thinking about how differently we experience ourselves from day to day.
Some days, everything seems to flow.
We have energy.
We feel connected to ourselves.
We want to move, create, talk, laugh, love.
There is a certain lightness in the way we experience ourselves and the world around us.
Those might be our 100% days.
And then there are other days.
We wake up tired.
Our body feels heavy.
Things that usually excite us suddenly feel far away.
We may still go through our day, answer messages, work, cook or meet people —
but somehow, we don't quite feel like ourselves.
Maybe that's a 40% day.
And somewhere in between, there are days like my Wednesday today: 70%.
Not too bad.
Not too perfect.
Simply somewhere in between.
Of course, these percentages are not a psychological scale, a diagnostic tool or a scientific measurement.
They are simply a metaphor.
A way of describing something deeply human:
✨"We don't have the same access to ourselves every day."✨
When feeling less alive starts to feel like losing yourself
Especially during challenging periods,
a temporary state can quickly become a conclusion about who we are:
"I'm not myself anymore."
"I used to be so much more energetic."
"I lost my confidence."
"I don't feel excited about anything anymore."
"Something is wrong with me."
And this is where a resource-oriented perspective can change something important.
Instead of asking:
“What is wrong with me?”
we might ask:
“Which of my resources are accessible to me right now?”
That is a very different question.
Because it doesn't assume that something has disappeared.
It assumes that something might currently be harder to access.
Your resources are not gone
This is one of the things I appreciate about resource-oriented and systemic perspectives in psychology.
Instead of looking only at deficits, symptoms or what a person currently cannot do, we can also look at the abilities, strengths, experiences and resources that are already there.
Maybe you know yourself as energetic, curious, loving, confident, creative or adventurous.
And then you enter a period in which you barely recognize that version of yourself.
You might think:
"Where did myself go?"
But perhaps yourself didn't go anywhere.
Maybe your system currently has less capacity to express yourself.
Poor sleep can affect us.
Stress can affect us.
Hormonal changes can affect us.
Physical exhaustion can affect us.
Relationships, work, uncertainty, illness, environmental factors and countless other things can affect how much energy is available to us at a particular moment.
Your potential hasn't necessarily disappeared just because you cannot fully access it today.
✨The version of yourself that you love is still part of you —
even on the days when you can only feel 40% of yourself.✨
40%- 70%- 100%
Imagine three different days.
1. A 40% day
You slept badly.
Your body feels heavy.
You have difficulty concentrating.
You don't really feel like talking to anyone.
Even things you normally enjoy don't create much excitement.
Maybe today isn't the day to demand motivation, productivity and endless optimism from yourself.
Maybe the question is simply:
"What would help my 40% self today?"
🤍A cold/hot shower?
🤍 A walk?
🤍 Food?
🤍 Rest?
🤍 Calling someone you feel safe with?
🤍 Doing one small thing that gives you a sense of agency?
Maybe your goal isn't to turn 40% into 100%.
Maybe 45% would already be enough.
2. A 70% day
Maybe you aren't fully rested.
Your body isn't at its strongest.
🤍 But there is curiosity.
🤍 You can laugh.
🤍 You can connect.
🤍 You have ideas.
🤍 You feel emotions.
🤍 You can enjoy parts of your day.
That's my Wednesday today.
And instead of focusing on the 30% that seem to be missing, I can ask:
"What is already available to me today?"
Quite a lot, actually.
3. A 100% day
And then there are those beautiful days when everything seems available.
🤍 Energy.
🤍 Confidence.
🤍 Connection.
🤍 Creativity.
🤍 Love.
🤍 Curiosity.
🤍 Movement.
Maybe you feel completely alive.
Enjoy those days.
But don't turn them into the standard against which every other version of yourself has to compete.
✨Because being human was never supposed to feel like 100% every day.✨
Don't turn the percentage into another performance goal
This part is important.
The purpose of this idea is not to wake up at 40% and
immediately start optimizing yourself until you reach 100%.
That would simply turn another self-reflection tool into another demand.
The percentage isn't a grade.
40% isn't failure.
70% isn't “almost good enough.”
And 100% isn't the goal.
The number simply gives language to your current experience.
Some days might need activation.
Other days might need rest.
Some days might need connection.
Others might need solitude.
And sometimes the most resourceful thing you can do is stop trying to change the percentage at all.
Ask what is available — not only what is missing
A deficit-oriented perspective naturally directs our attention towards absence:
"I don't have enough energy."
"I'm not motivated."
"I'm not as confident as I used to be."
"I'm not productive enough."
A resource-oriented perspective doesn't deny those experiences.
It simply adds another question:
"What is still here?"
Maybe your energy is low, but your curiosity is there.
Maybe you feel emotionally exhausted, but you still reached out to a friend.
Maybe you aren't productive, but you took care of your body.
Maybe you don't feel confident, but you still did something that scared you.
Maybe today isn't your brightest day.
But there may still be light.
"I feel like nothing is changing" - Try this
It can be helpful to write your percentages down.
Not obsessively.
Not as another task you have to perform perfectly.
Simply as a small observation.
You could keep a note on your phone, use your journal or create a tiny table:
Monday — 45%
Low energy, emotionally sensitive, poor sleep. A walk helped.
Tuesday — 60%
More energy, still tense, good conversation with a friend.
Wednesday — 70%
Calmer system, emotionally open, creative, still physically tired.
Over time, you may begin to see something that is difficult to notice when you're inside a challenging moment:
Your state moves.
Find your EXTRA 5%
And this might be my favorite part of the whole idea.
Instead of asking:
“How do I get back to 100%?”
try asking:
“What could give me EXTRA 5% today?”
Five percent is small.
Five percent doesn't demand a transformation.
But maybe...
...it's putting on your favorite song.
Going outside.
Eating something nourishing.
Cleaning one corner of your room.
Moving your body.
Taking a nap.
Writing.
Creating something.
Talking to someone.
Doing absolutely nothing for half an hour.
Your EXTRA 5% will look different depending on the day.
And sometimes there won't be a EXTRA 5%.
Sometimes your system simply needs to stay exactly where it is.
That is allowed too.
Final Thought
Maybe this is what I want to remember from my 70% Wednesday:
✨ I don't need to feel completely energetic to recognize myself.
✨ I don't need to feel happy every second to know that joy still exists in me.
✨ I don't need access to every resource every day to know that those resources belong to me.
Some days I might feel 40%.
Some days 70%.
Some days 100%.
And none of these numbers define who I am.
They simply describe how much of myself feels accessible in this particular moment.
The rest isn't gone.
And perhaps that is one of the most comforting perspectives we can give ourselves during difficult phases:
✨The version of you that feels alive, curious, loving, confident and connected
doesn't disappear just because you can't fully access to yourself today.✨
YOU are still there.
And today, 70% is more than enough.
✨Want to read more on this topic?✨
The Bigger Picture of Mental Well-Being
When the Body Speaks What the Mind Can't
WITH LOVE
ANNABELLE
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