Finding freedom and clarity from a power cord

I recently realized that I give my laptop battery more care and attention than I do my own battery. This revelation came after a last-minute change of plans on my way to work when I decided to work from a coffee shop instead of heading straight to the office. 

Entering the coffee shop, I placed my order: an English Breakfast tea and a cinnamon swirl, grabbed a table, and opened my laptop: 15% battery. 

I dimmed the screen so that it was just barely visible, closed unnecessary programs (bye Spotify), and started working, hoping to squeeze as much life out of my laptop as possible. My leisurely working breakfast turned into a quick dine and dash, racing against my draining laptop battery. 

I had a bad habit of not charging my laptop, especially on days I worked from home. It was so easy to let my laptop battery wear itself down at home because I have an abundance of outlets that I can use anytime. Plus, I usually work from home one day and then in the office the next, where I have a dedicated outlet at my desk. 

My apathy to keeping my laptop battery charged was a non-issue as long as I stuck to my habits and routines. It wasn’t until I broke them that I realized the problem I had created for myself: a scarcity of power. 

Power to keep my laptop battery charged. 
Power to deviate from the plan. 
Power to adapt to changes. 

I decided that I wanted to be able to navigate those changes and deviations with a full battery so I committed to keep my laptop at 100% battery most of the time. Oddly enough, being physically connected to a cord became freeing. 

When it’s nice out, I can take my laptop to work outside because I know the battery is charged.

When I want a change of scenery, I can work from a coffee shop because my laptop is fully powered. 

This is when my revelation happened: Just like trying to work from a coffee shop with a low battery, I sometimes try to live my life with a low battery and expect that I will respond with peak performance. But that doesn’t happen.

I end up dimming the distractions to preserve my energy, I push aside unnecessary tasks focusing only on what’s in front of me, and I try to deal with things as quickly as possible to get them off my plate. I can’t navigate changes and deviations with a low battery – everything becomes harder to handle.

What if I made a conscious effort to charge my own battery like I do for my laptop? 

Charging a laptop battery is pretty straightforward: plug it into an outlet and get power. I can’t simply plug myself into an outlet to get to 100%, it’s more complicated than that. I need to know what recharges me and then find the resources to do it – the opposite of having an abundance of outlets.

And there’s another component too: boundaries. My laptop has very clear boundaries. It keeps me updated on its battery life and gives me a warning when it’s about to shut down when the battery gets too low. My boundaries are not as clear. I can push my bedtime back 30 minutes, an hour… or two… and I still keep going. I might not be the best version of myself: sluggish and grumpy, but I can still function. My boundaries are softer, more negotiable, so I sometimes take advantage of them. 

So where does this revelation leave me? I’m working towards figuring out the things that recharge me and how to “plug into” them regularly so that I can have a full battery. For now, I’ll settle with an English Breakfast tea, a cinnamon swirl, a laptop battery at 98%, and a screen set to full brightness.

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Thanks

Emma Dorge

for being a source of power for my writing through your feedback.