Have you ever noticed that we often take more care to recharge our devices than we do ourselves? If your phone is at 50%, you probably don’t think twice about plugging it in. You charge it because you know you’re going to need that energy later.
What would shift if we did the same thing with ourselves? Why do we wait until we’re running on fumes before we give ourselves permission to rest and recharge?
I think part of it is that we’ve gotten really good at functioning while we’re tired. We can keep going, be productive, answer the emails, make dinner, show up for work, take care of everyone else, and keep checking things off the list even when the little battery indicator inside us has been flashing for days.
And because there are things that need doing, we just keep doing.
But there’s a difference between being capable of doing something and having the energy to do it well. There’s a difference between getting through the day and actually being present in your life. And there’s a difference between needing a break because you’re completely exhausted and choosing to take a break because you can feel that you’re starting to run low.
That last one!
What if we didn’t wait until we were empty? What if we started paying attention when we were at 50%? What if that little feeling of “I could really use some quiet” was enough of a reason to give yourself some quiet? What if feeling irritable was enough of a signal to slow down, or noticing that you’ve been giving, giving, giving was enough of a reason to turn some of that attention toward yourself?
Not because you’re falling apart or have reached your limit. Simply because you recognize that you’re starting to run low, and you know it’s time to recharge.
There’s something incredibly powerful about that kind of self-awareness.
Instead of waiting for your body or your mind to slam on the brakes, you start listening to the quieter messages. You notice when your energy is beginning to shift. You notice when you need a little more space. You notice when you’re craving stillness, nature, laughter, connection, or absolutely nothing at all.
And then you actually do something about it.
You take a walk. You sit in the sun for a while. You go to bed early, or you leave an afternoon completely open instead of filling it with one more thing. You pick up your journal and let your thoughts spill onto the page. Sometimes, you come to a sound bath and allow yourself to step out of the constant doing.
There are a million ways to plug yourself back in.
And I don’t think it matters how you recharge nearly as much as it matters that you notice when you need to.
When you keep your battery charged along the way, you have a little more energy in reserve, a little more patience when things don’t go as planned, a little more creativity and capacity for whatever lands in front of us.
It’s really just regular maintenance. We put gas in the car before the tank is empty. We water the plant before it has completely wilted. We plug in our phone when we know we’re going to be out all day tomorrow. We don’t wait until something has stopped working before we give it what it needs. Taking care of our own energy can be that simple, too. When we notice that we’re starting to run low, we plug in.
Taking care of ourselves before we’re depleted doesn’t just help us survive. It gives us more energy to actually thrive.
0 Comments