Self-Care Lessons from Regenerative Braking
My family recent got our first electric vehicle. It’s been fun to get used to all the new ways EV’s work and gamify our commute to see how much battery we use or save. One of the exciting features of hybrids and electric vehicles is the concept of regenerative braking. As the name suggests, when the car is braking, the battery is regenerating power. There is a constant flow of energy out and energy in that contributes to the overall battery life.
It’s been fun to gamify my drives to see how close to net positive or net neutral I can keep the battery life. But more than than, I’ve been noodling on the ways regenerative braking feels like a wise model of a way to consider self-care.
Self-care is undoubtedly a psychobabble buzz word these days. Sometimes people misunderstand self-care to be lavish or indulgent ways to restore one’s self. While that can be part of self-care, that’s certainly not what it looks like most days or weeks. On the other hand, sometimes people completely overextend themselves, drain their battery, and then need lots of time to stop and charge up.
It’s normal and good to need times to stop and recharge our batteries (this is part of why the importance of sleep cannot be overemphasized for our mental and physical wellbeing). Between re-charges, regenerative braking offers us a more holistic, and often realistic path forward. Our daily lives are full of moments that require us expending energy, and moments that restore our energy, sometimes even in the same experience! Self-care following regenerative braking encourages us to keep a mindful balance of our internal battery life, pushing and exerting when required, and then leaning into something restoring or slowing down – a few minutes of deep breathing, doing a handstand between zoom meetings, getting on a call with a dear friend, stopping to enjoy something beautiful, deep belly laugh, journaling, sleeping, exercising, doing a puzzle, going for a walk, lighting a candle, enjoying a delicious meal, reading, etc.
Recently regenerative braking has looked like stopping to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine on my face after this cold and wet winter. After a full day, it’s pushing through one more kitchen prep task in the evening so my coffee is one button away the next morning. It’s prioritizing more silliness and laughter in my parenting. It’s booking my Saturday morning workout. It’s jamming out to a fun song in the car on my way home. It’s reminding myself it’s enough to rest, to take a break. It’s getting lost in a good novel.
The goal is not that we stay net-neutral, of course we need to a longer recharge built into our routine. But perhaps there are meaningful and doable ways we can all be prioritizing some regenerative elements into our regular daily lives that help promote more balance, presence, and joy.
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