AN ESSENTIAL

AN ESSENTIAL

Batteries are essential. Who doubts that fact? For the most part batteries are categorized as primary (alkaline/single use - remotes, cameras, watches) or secondary (rechargeable – smartphones, laptops, cars). Do I need to say more? Batteries are essential.

Most households keep a supply of the single use batteries on hand and multiple places and ways to connect the rechargeable batteries can be found.

“Rest and Reset” was the edict from the coach, owner, and instructor for the 9-day closure of the gym over the recent holidays. She made the verbal announcement shortly before Thanksgiving, posted notices, sent emails and text…closed nine days to “Rest and Reset.”  I imagine, she needed time to pause, breathe, go to bed early, and wake up late. Her needs while more acute than her gym members were no less present. As a guardian of the members’ physical and to a degree emotional well-being, we were urged to do likewise. “Rest and Reset” was a nice catchy phrase for sitting on a proverbial charger to RECHARGE.

Imagine your body as your cellphone. Rechargeable batteries like the one in a cellphone can last up to seven years with proper care before significant capacity loss. They last longer if kept between a 20 and 80% charge – draining to zero or fully charging to 100% too frequently leads to a shorten battery lifespan. Keeping the phone on the charger after it is fully charged is a high-stress state and accelerates degradation. Let that marinade for a moment. The coach did not want us to drain to zero. So, she encouraged some form of daily activity and texted daily challenges. Many of us operate, we falsely believe, on a fully charged battery all the time, thus creating for ourselves a high-stress state.

I could choose not to write another word and allow you to draw your own conclusion as to where you fall in this battery story…feel free to do so. Just in case you don’t see yourself in the story, let me tell you about me. As a rechargeable battery, my difficulty lies in taking responsibility for properly charging. I am a zero or 100% charge kind of person. My cellphone supports this reality.

Without proper recharging, I eventually become depleted. I periodically work myself to zero percent charge and crash or run like mad on a full charge for prolonged periods. Considering the battery metaphor, am I diminishing my lifespan? Moderation is the sweet spot - twenty to eighty percent charge, observing rest intervals, alternating the intensity of workouts over the course of a week and working different muscle groups. Left on my own, my success rate is possibly 50%.

I work out 5 days a week because I am a bit fearful of developing a habit of skipping and exercising can be a false charge. I am energized after class until the adrenaline wears off. Typically, Saturday and Sunday are active rest days. If I am honest, I often return to the gym on Monday feeling the same way I left on Friday. Why? Because my idea of active resting is possibly not resting at all.

Here’s what I am hoping. If I can grasp the concept of a rechargeable battery and live into it, I just might add to my lifespan… a lifespan with intact mental faculties, disease free and minimal disruption of the activity of my limbs.

Psalm 127:2

PONDER THIS THOUGHT---Recharging your battery is the antidote to living a single battery life.