Welcome to my Never Quit Climbing blog

A practical, inspirational blog designed to encourage and give hope to people who are climbing mountains of rock and granite or ones life has put in their way.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sometimes We Need Our Batteries Recharged

Have you ever been doing a presentation or working on a project and you get that message on your computer that the "battery power is low."  There you are, ready to move on, to get it all done, and your computer is out of gas.

Or you've just entered your car, ready to head home or out on a trip and the car won't start and a light comes on telling you the battery is gone.

It probably would help if we could get a similar light or message when our personal batteries are low. Because it's one thing to have to postpone finishing your work on your laptop for a while or call a tow truck, but it's far more serious when we have a personal meltdown that is harder to fix.

Why might we be out of power?  There are lots of reasons. Lack of sleep, overwork, too much stress, too busy, weak immune system, recent traumatic events, long-term illnesses and many others. The problem is we often keep pushing ahead thinking that we can make it. But often the decision not to stop leads to disastrous consequences like it does for the climber who pushes ahead on Everest when they know better.

So how do we avoid running out of electricity, so to speak?  Can we head off the problems at the pass?

Sure we can. First, stay in tune with yourself and your schedule.  Don't ignore times in your life or climb when things become harder than usual or there is greater pressure on you to perform. Periodically take inventory of what your week or month or even year looks like so you can see exactly where the extra challenges might come. I like to have a calendar that also shows the big picture not just what is on my phone each day or week.

Second, get rest and take care of yourself. Often when we're young (and most of us think we're young long after we really are) we think we can conquer the world and keep doing the same things and meeting the same expectations year after year. Let me tell you something - you can't!  And it's OK.  So that means you'll need more rest, more time to rejuvenate.

Third, let go of some things. You can't do it all and you do not have to. If you're climbing a mountain of illness or personal problems, you don't have to meet all the responsibilities you had before. You can't live your life to please others either. Give away some of  your tasks and let someone else have the opportunity to do them.

Sometimes batteries get drained because someone simply forgot to turn something off.  That happens and there is not much we can do about that. But if our batteries drain because we simply tried to do more than our emotional charge would hold then that's our fault. And the consequences aren't worth it. Recharge today.


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