Recharge

So I realized something quite interesting over the last few days. How important it is to take time to recharge your batteries. No, not real batteries (although I guess those are important too). Rather, the invisible ones, the ones in your mind and your heart and your spirit. The batteries that so often, in the hustle and bustle of things, seem to run down and be forgotten about.

I have spent the last week forcing myself to sit in front of a computer, willing my fingers to type, to work on a story that I know is inside me just waiting to come out. In a weeks’ time, I have managed a paragraph. That is dismal by pretty much every standard out there.

Now, I have a theory on this, I hadn't realized my batteries were low. Between running kids around, last minute changes to plans, every day things that need to be taken care of, and way too many late nights (trying to figure out why I couldn't come up with anything to write) my batteries had drained down to an abysmally low level. Then, on top of it all, since I was trying to force myself to write something that just wasn't there at the moment, the writing was turning into work, not fun. And we all know that work can be a horrible 4 lettered word sometimes.

I realized this afternoon, as I was sitting behind my computer desk once again trying in vain to write, but with my chin resting on the window sill, staring longingly out the window into the yard beyond, that I didn't want to be cooped up inside at a desk when this is the first beautiful Monday we have had in god only knows how long. I realized that it was time for a change in perspective. I would still try to write, but I would do it on my terms. Out came the laptop, and my trusty jump drive, and I was off to the hammock. Within 30 minutes, only 30 minutes, I had over 1000 words filling the screen which had previously been threatening eternal blankness. I had recharged my batteries. I had found what I needed to do for myself, to appease the creative muses and lure them once again to my side.

Will this work every time I am at a loss? I highly doubt it, that would be far too easy. But it worked this time, the words flow once again. I can write my story, I can write this blog, I feel like my old unstoppable self, ready to take on the world. Ok maybe not the whole world, but at least a chunk of it.

No matter how busy your life gets, no matter what you HAVE to do. Take a few minutes and recharge your batteries. Change your perspective, do something a way you wouldn't normally do it, mix things up a bit. You never know it might be just what you need...