Time to Recharge

“People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, solitude is a victory.”
― Karl Lagerfeld

Life can be a thrilling adventure full of moments of excitement, celebration and constant motion, but in order for life to be fully appreciated and molded into a legacy of quality and true contentment, such a frantic pace cannot be sustained endlessly.

While I have always enjoyed trying new things and traveling, I have also always known that I need downtime. Without downtime to recharge, I am not my best self, I don’t make good decisions and, I’ll admit it, I get rather grouchy.

And while we all may agree with the idea of recharging in theory, there may be some that still aren’t aware that they are running themselves ragged because it has become a daily routine, a regular expectation.

Here are some signs that you need to take a day or two to recharge:

• the to-do list is overwhelming, and you feel like you’re on an unending wheel of responsibility and demands, not all of which excite you to complete
• the alarm clock is relied on without question and pressing the snooze button occurs more regularly than normal
• quick to anger and become frustrating with simple tasks that normally wouldn’t have set you off
• feeling rushed to make decisions, and in doing so don’t feel good about the decisions you do make (large or small)
• the house is a wreck and chores haven’t been completed that regularly would have been easily finished

The basic idea of realizing we need to recharge is when we feel out of sync, discombobulated in the world and life we’ve made for ourselves and begging for rest or time to simply catch up.

Rather than asking for time to catch up, take a time out and reassess what led to the schedule getting out of hand.

Sometimes it isn’t the daily schedule that needs to be tweaked. Rather a life change or transition has occurred, and you are trying to adjust and settle. Feeling exhausted and temporarily out of place in this type of situation is completely normal and expected. In such a scenario, give yourself a break, don’t beat yourself up, and afford yourself time to clear your head before making any other big decisions. Usually you are also emotionally tired because of the novelty that your life has introduced to you.

However, if it is your daily schedule that is draining your ability to be your best self, some editing is required. Click here and here to discover when and how to edit your life.

As far as how to recharge, let me share with you what works for me.

The past weekend, as I mentioned on Friday, was a necessary two days to recharge. And I am so thankful that I was able to make the time. If you follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter, you may have already learned a few of my favorite things to do, but below is the entire list that I depend on to make me feel at the top of my game, refuel my creativity and promptly set me back on track.

1. An empty schedule. 

2. A clean house.

3. Walks with my dogs.

4. A bubble bath.

5. Unlimited time to catch up on my stack of newspapers, magazines and other reading material that I have been wanting to dive into

6. A good night’s sleep without the alert of an alarm clock.

7. Kitchen therapy.

~Tagliatelle pasta with white truffle balsamic vinegar roasted broccoli. The recipe will go live later this week. Stay tuned!~

~Wild Mushroom Risotto (with pancetta) – click here to view the recipe~

8. A nap when your body asks for it.

9. Wonderful wine and appetizers

11. Time in the yard or outside

12. A flexible meeting or time to chat with a good friend and just relax in each others’ company.

13. A leisurely morning to watch saved episodes of Barefoot Contessa.

14. Evenings that are topped off with a hot cup of lavender tea and a decadent chocolate truffle.

Images: (1) source, the remaining images were taken by simply luxurious via Instagram