Can you feel the fatigue setting in your body? Your bones feel weak, and your motivation is lackluster? Can you feel the burnout beginning to happen? If you are feeling drained and worn, then this blog is for you. Often times we are motivated until our energy levels and a sense of purpose fade. How can we rekindle those levels to be at peak performing instead of running on fumes? We have to remember to fill up the tank and not waste precious fuel(energy) by remaining idle. In this blog, I want to recharge the mental, physical, and chemical aspects of your body.

The first area I will be speaking on is your mental recharge. I am sure you can imagine a relationship where you had to take a break. You might have had to mentally take a break from someone to rebuild a tolerance for that individual again. Alone time is a great resource when trying to recharge your mental state. This is why I am an advocate for meditation. Not only does it allow you to focus on your mind, but it allows you to clean up your mind. It helps you put your thoughts into the correct places, so you can feel less cluttered and have a plan for where you want to go and be.

Recharging your mind help jump-start the process of healing. Similar to depression, if you are mentally not there, then you won’t feel like doing much. I am sure you have heard quotes like, “Get your head in the game!” quotes like this imply that even though you are physically present, you are not there mentally. Being able to be there mentally is key to the success you want to have in your life. So how can we recharge our mind besides meditation? This will be different for every person, but the simple answer is time.

You will most likely not hear a monk talk about how they are in a rush to get their meditation over with. Meditation is the act of purposefully thinking of every second, moment, breath, and thought. Time is the cure-all for when you are feeling mentally drained and fatigued. Another quote, “Time heals all wounds”, speaks true to the well-being of your mental health. Perhaps you lost a loved one, had a breakup, feel overwhelmed, or are just lost in life, time will smooth over these less-than-desired moments. Time in this manner is not wishing for this moment to be over but rather letting things take the proper course so that you can get to where you want to be.

I work as a mindset coach, and much of my work helps people with this first step. Your mind is the starting point for everything you do. Your mental is one of the first steps you have to take on your journey to your best self. A self where you feel confident, full of energy, and motivated to take whatever is thrown at you. I know I need a break once in a while. Sometimes I need to take a step back just to be able to move forward again. I am constantly working on my mental health. When I discover that I am out of whack, I start at this point and then work through the next two steps to resolve any ailment that I am experiencing at the time.

The second area I want to touch on is your physical recharge. This one is an easy one to get done, but what I find is that people do too much or too little. Have you ever gone on vacation and came back and went to work that Monday and felt so exhausted? I know I have! I can recall on that Monday, I was praying for Saturday to come quickly, so I could take some time to recharge and unwind. What? I just came back from vacation, and I am wiped out! I know that traveling through airports and navigating to and from your destination can be draining, but did you feel that way when you got there? Did you get to your room on your vacation and say that you needed a nap, or did you begin your exploration? If you drove to Disney world, then yes, you are probably going to want to take a nap while your kids yell and scream about all the exciting things they want to do right NOW. Physical recharge is needed.

In order to take a proper physical recharge, you have to know what it is you need to rest. Does your body need rest because of an injury, or is it just general tiredness from a long and strenuous day? Knowing what you need to rest is important. For example, if you hurt your shoulder, then you must rest your shoulder. You can still use your legs to get to places and get some cardio in (if that’s your thing). Your shoulder needed rest, not your whole body. Again it is important to rest what needs to be rested. I see a lot of people taking unneeded rests, and this leads to them being over-rested. It sounds like a good problem to have, but that could be farthest from the truth.

When you begin to over rest your body, you may start to feel lethargic more often. Thinking you need a physical recharge can either end with you feeling rested or you feeling in an even worst state. Resting too much is just as bad as resting too little. It is a balancing act you must experiment with in order to see what works for you. For example, If I get over 9 hours of sleep on any given night, then I wake up feeling more tired than if I slept for six or seven hours. My body does not need or do well on large amounts of sleep. Yes, I may be behind in my hours and take a nap if given the opportunity, but trying to get all my sleep at once does not serve me.

You have to learn what your body needs for a full physical recharge. I am simple when it comes to a physical recharge because all I need is six hours of sleep, and I am ready to go. That is what I need to recharge any type of physical fatigue. If I have an injury, then I make sure I take the proper action to rest that area and let my body heal. This happens with my shoulder every few months at the gym. I will go in for a regular workout and pull a muscle in my shoulder. This is most likely due to an injury I had lifting when I was younger, but I just have to be aware when it is not 100% and do what I can. My physical recharge is short and sweet.

Your physical recharge might need much more than I need, and there is nothing wrong with that. You might just need a weekend to recover from your week. However, this does a few things that can hinder progress in other areas of your life. Taking a weekend to relax and sit on the sofa to eat ice cream, chips, and pizza can not only have physical side effects but also affect your progress in your life. If you use a whole weekend to recover, then that means you now only have five productive days in a week rather than seven. It might not seem like much at first glance, but if you did this for a year, then you would have accumulated over 100 unproductive days on the calendar. Remember, take the physical rest you need to be back at 100%. Do not take more than what is needed for you to be recharged.

The third area that needs recharge sometimes is the chemical aspect of the body. Have you ever had cravings for foods other than sweets? That is the body’s way of letting you know that it is lacking in some areas. You might be low on a certain vitamin or not hydrating properly. Your body will let you know by feeling “off” or fatigued. This is when rest and mental fortitude alone cannot get you out of the funk. I can imagine that it feels similar to a diabetic with low blood sugar. You just feel off, and you cannot do anything. This chemical balance is self-regulated in a proper diet, but sometimes you can get caught up and not realize what you are lacking.

You might be going to the gym and eating healthy, but you still feel off. This happened to me this past week. My schedule for the past two months has been hectic! I do not use this as an excuse for myself, but it is a great eye-opening experience sometimes to take a step back and realize what it is you need. I was missing a few things, which caused me to feel lethargic. No amount of rest could make me feel at 100% again. I had brain fog, was tired, flu-like symptoms, and I realized it was my own doing. I was not paying attention to what my body needed.

The first thing I realized was that I needed a recharge somewhere in my life. This was the start of my feeling tired, numb, and unmotivated. My mindset was still there 100%, but my body would not do what I wanted it to do. It was like having a car but no gas to drive it. So how did I recover from this plight I was having? I had to do what I preached, of course, and take time out to recharge. I was able to skip the first area since my mind was where I wanted it to be, so I decided to work on the second area. I tried to catch up on my sleep and rest my body from my normal gym regime. I switched it up to shock my system. This worked at first, but then I went back to feeling tired and sluggish again.

That leads me to the third area I would have to work on. I had to figure out what was chemically wrong with me. Now, I am not saying I was broken, but just like a car needs an oil change – I was past due for mine. After analyzing what I have been eating and trying to figure out my next step, I realized my water consumption was low. So I started to drink more water and felt somewhat better. I started to take my vitamins as I should have and drank some drinks with electrolytes to help with my dehydration. I had to take a step back to see what I was missing. I needed a chemical recharge.

A chemical recharge does not require the aid of any type of drug. What you need to figure out is what your body needs. You can experiment on your own or get some blood work done to see if you are deficient in any key nutrients. Your body is a fine-tuned machine that needs you to keep up with regular maintenance. We always remember to get our hair and nails done, but that is all cosmetic stuff. We sometimes have to look inward and give our bodies what it needs to be recharged. My recharge time was short compared to what some others might have to deal with. I do take pride in being healthy and taking care of myself. I understand that what I do today and the effort that I put into having a strong, healthy life translates into my overall success and betterment.

In conclusion, take the time you need to recharge. Recharging is different for everyone. Some people get recharged by going out, talking on the phone, movies, hiking, sleeping, playing video games, cooking, cleaning, singing, traveling, or just simply eating a pizza. Whatever you need to do to recharge, then do just that until you are back to 100%. Once you are there, make sure you go back to taking massive action to get to where you want to be in your life. Remember that when you feel down and out, it is OK to take a step back. Take the time to realize what is running low and recharge just that. The energy you have available can translate into what you put out into the world. So be recharged and full so that you can operate at your fullest potential each day and keep on the road to your most desired life.

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of Reven Concepts