As I was preparing dinner this evening, my wireless headphones informed me that they were out of juice by shutting off. Something that has become a bit of a daily ritual for my sanity is to listen to podcasts or watch shows on my phone through my noise-cancelling headphones while I wash the day’s dishes and prepare dinner. I had to stop what I was doing, plug in my headphones, and get out the wired headphones that came with my iPhone a million years ago. They’re nice - not the same - but in a pinch, they do the job.

The lasagna is in the oven now, and I realized something as I was kissing my husband hello and telling him he has about half an hour to shower before dinner. It’s 7 o’clock at night, and when I got home this afternoon I had felt exhausted, but I now feel…energized. It was a bit of a surreal realization. It got me thinking: How did I go from feeling nearly entirely depleted when I got home from taking the kids to the library/swim lessons and errands in town, to feeling restored again somehow this evening?

I think it’s worth a bit of unpacking that I hope can be useful to somebody else out there in the blogosphere. I know I still have so much to learn about myself, but one thing I’ve come to realize over the years is that I am an extroverted introvert. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with other people, in particular with close friends and family, but also with strangers in stores and out in the world. It warms my heart when a well placed smile or gesture of kindness lights up another person’s face.  I also adore working with others for the purposes of education - the act of helping others to learn about a topic or a new skill totally ignites my soul. I gladly expend energy and time in all these types of interpersonal interactions.

Simultaneously I am often completely unaware of how deeply this drains my internal batteries. When I got to the house today, it was a little before 4pm, and I had to head straight out to tend to our animals who all needed to be fed and watered. I chatted to my father for a bit, and then out I went despite feeling like I might not quite be able to put one foot in front of the other.

I managed it…

I took the dog from his outside area to his kennel and gave him dinner, I fed the peeps and topped off their waters, fed the hens and collected eggs, took the cows their evening treat, fed them, and topped of their water as well. I then headed back up to the house, still feeling tired but a little more relaxed inside myself.

I had two possibilities for dinner: falafel or lasagna. Both are a bit laborious, but I can manage either without actually looking at a recipe. I decided to go for lasagna to use up leftover sauce. While the kids enjoyed their afternoon screen time, I washed some dishes and edited a little how-to video on raising peeps that I might post to my neglected YouTube channel. I boiled the noodles, and then I constructed the lasagna layer by layer. It’s just about finished baking, and I’ve taken a moment to write to you.

I am still physically tired from the day’s activities, but taking some time to go through my quiet routines on the farm, poking around editing video, listening to some podcasts in my headphones, and engaging in an activity for the nourishment of my family and myself - lasagna, yum!- has all really helped me to recharge my batteries. These are the odd things that I find restorative. I feel a contented sense of accomplishment, and somehow I know I’ll be able to face tomorrow.

Have you taken the time to consider:

What in your life drains your batteries - even the things you love to do?

What have you found re-energizes and restores you?

What do you do to protect your energy levels from optional things in life that don’t add value?