Put Yourself On The Charger

Episode 32!! July can feel like a sudden spotlight. You started the year with goals and momentum, and now you look up and realize you have been pouring into everyone and everything but yourself. So I’m hitting pause for a different kind of midyear reset, one that’s less about grinding and more about learning how to recharge before burnout takes over. 

You’ll leave with a simple July challenge and journaling prompts to spot what drains your energy, what brings you joy, and what you want to reconnect with as the second half of the year begins. 

If this message lands, share it with someone who needs permission to slow down, then subscribe and leave a review so more people can find Choose Joy. What’s one small way you can put yourself on the charger this month?

Transcript

July Reality Check

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back, Joyful Babes, to the Choose Joy podcast. I'm your host, Chelsea, and today's episode. What is today's episode? It's episode 32. Okay. Welcome to July, everyone. Happy first of the month. We are officially halfway through the year. And I don't know if it's just me, but there's something about reaching July that always feels like this weird little reality check. It's like one second we're celebrating New Year's Eve, setting our goals, writing our intentions, and then saying that this is gonna be my year. And then all of a sudden we look up and six months have passed. Um, and I think this point in the year brings up a lot of different emotions for some people. It feels exciting. Maybe you've accomplished things that you're proud of. Maybe you're closer to your goals than you thought you would be. But for other people, it can feel a little heavy, and maybe you're thinking, wow, I would be so much further along by now. Um, or you started the year with so much motivation, and then somewhere, some way and or somewhere along the line, life just happened. You've been pouring into your career, your relationships, your family, your goals, your responsibilities, but you haven't checked in with yourself, and honestly, that is the reason why I wanted to do this episode this way, because last time we talked about it's halftime, there's a lot more game left, gearing up, and finishing the year strong. This time around, I want to pivot a little bit because instead of this being another conversation about what we need to accomplish in the second half of the year, I want to talk about something that we don't really talk about enough or talk about in the right fashion. And I want to talk about what happens when we need to recharge.

Put Yourself On The Charger

SPEAKER_00 2:00

So today's episode is called Put Yourself on the Charger. And I know that sounds simple, but stay with me because I think this metaphor says so much about how we treat ourselves. And I did see this clip of this guy talking about how we've lost the art of laying down, not going to sleep, just laying down, resting. And I want to elaborate that elaborate on that a little bit because think about your phone. Okay, your phone is something that you use every single day. You ask it to do so much, you use it for work, communication, entertainment, navigation, memories, information-literally everything. And eventually the battery starts getting low, maybe down to 50%, 20%, maybe get down to 10. If you're like me, the phone just shuts off because you're not even paying attention. Okay, not even paying attention. Um, and what do you do when that happens? You don't get angry at your phone, or maybe you do. Um, I can't believe you're already dying. You should be more efficient today. No, you don't shame it for needing energy. You simply plug it in, you put it on the charger, and then you let it do what it was designed to do: restore, recharge, prepare for what comes next. And I started thinking, why don't we offer ourselves that same grace? Why do we wait until we are completely exhausted before we give ourselves permission to rest? We treat our own exhaustion like an inconvenience. It's like when we feel ourselves needing a break, we automatically think that we're not disciplined enough or motivated enough or strong enough. Because the reality is we are not machines. And even if you do view yourself as a machine, I'm talking to one person in particular. Those machines break down, those machines need oiling, those machines need rest time. We are not designed to run endlessly without a little maintenance, a little tune-up. And yet, so many of us live life like we are. I think we live in a world that really celebrates being busy. Being busy almost feels like a personality trait now. Someone asks, How are you? And how many times is our automatic response, oh my gosh, I'm so busy. There's just so many things that we and we say it proudly. We just sit there and list off all the things that we need to do. Like being exhausted means that we're important or something. Um, and having no time for yourself doesn't mean that you're doing something right. I want you to question that because I took the time to question that. Because there's a difference between living a full life and having an overwhelmed life. There's a difference between being passionate and being depleted, and there's a difference between working towards your dreams and forgetting to take care of the person who is chasing them. I think a lot of us are really good at pouring out, pouring into our jobs, pouring into our families, our kids, our friendships, our responsibilities. But then when it comes to ourselves, you'll get to you later. You know, I'll rest when things calm down. I'll take care of myself when I have more time. But what happens if things never fully calm down? What happens if there's another task, another deadline, another expectation? Because every day brings on something new. So at some point, you have to decide that taking care of ourselves is not something that we do after everything else is complete, because everything else will always need something from you. We also need something from ourselves. And

The Lost Art Of Laying Down

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I want to talk a little bit more about that whole art of laying down because honestly, we've simply forgotten how to do this. Not sleeping, not scrolling, not watching TV, not listening to something, just being still existing. And I know that sounds almost silly because laying down feels like such a basic human thing. But think about the last time you intentionally laid down with no agenda, no phone in your hand, no show playing in the background, no podcasts, no multitasking, no pressure to make that moment productive, just you. Silence. For a lot of us, it's actually uncomfortable because we have trained ourselves to believe that every moment needs to be filled, every silence needs some noise, every free moment needs productivity, and sometimes the most healing thing that you can do is allow yourself to simply be. You don't need to improve yourself all the time, you don't always need to be learning something, you don't always need to fix something. Sometimes you just need a moment where you are not asking anything from yourself. I

Rest Versus Escape

SPEAKER_00 7:06

think it's important to talk about the difference between rest and escape. I love a good comfort show, I love a good doom scroll, I love the little moments where your brain just shuts off, but sometimes we mistake just distraction for restoration, and distraction helps us avoid. Rest though, helps you recover. And there's a difference. Taking a walk without needing to listen to anything. Rest might look like closing your eyes for 10 minutes or saying no to something because your energy matters. Um, rest could look like I don't know, doing absolutely nothing and not feeling guilty about

Ten Minutes Of Intentional Rest

SPEAKER_00 7:55

it. And maybe that's the challenge I want to give us for July. Give yourself 10 minutes of intentional rest. Not because you earned it, not because you finished everything, not because you checked off everything on your little boxes. It's because you're human, you're a human being, you're a Homo sapien who deserves care, just like you care for your babies, your dogs, your cats, your plants, your food, your house. Take care of you. And as we enter the second half of the year, I want you to be mindful about your own battery. Where are you right now? Are you operating at 100%? Or maybe 75. A lot of y'all are running on 20% and pretending that you're fine. And again, this is not about judging yourself, this is about awareness because you can't recharge what you refuse to acknowledge is drained. Hello, that's a word. I'm gonna I'm gonna run it back because you cannot recharge what you refuse to acknowledge is drained. So maybe your halfway check-in looks like asking yourself, what has been draining my energy this year? What habits have taken more than they've given? What expectations have I placed on myself that are no longer healthy, no longer feel healthy? And then on the other side, what has brought me joy? What moments have made me feel like myself? What relationships have poured back into me? What parts of myself do I want to reconnect with? Um, just journaling prompts because y'all know I love when y'all write it down. So get a little paper, vote it hot dog style, do a little pros and cons list of the year, check in with yourself, actually truly check in. The goal is not to just get through the year, the goal is to actually be present for it, all of it, not just halfway through. And before we close, I just want to leave you with this reminder.

Stop Waiting For A Breakdown

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Your phone never apologizes for needing a charger. Your phone does not feel guilty for needing a moment to recharge, it will literally cut off. Your phone does not think it failed because it got a little battery, it just shuts down, and so does your body. So it simply recognizes that it needs energy, and maybe we can learn something from that. Maybe we can stop waiting until we completely break down before we take care of ourselves, okay? Ladies, this is not your car. Okay, this is not. Oh, I hear something, I hear something rumbling around. Turn the music up. It's curb. Oh, turn the music up. No, it's no, it's more, it's more context to it, okay? It's more complex than that. We can stop waiting until we completely break down and take care of ourselves. We can stop treating rest like it's something that we have to earn and start seeing rest as preparation, okay? Charging yourself is not what takes away from your goals. Charging yourself is what allows you to keep showing up for them. So this July, I want you to remember to put yourself on the charger, take the pause, protect your energy, create space for yourself, and allow yourself to risk because to risk, to rest, to rest, because you deserve the same love, patience, and care that you so easily give to everyone else. And I don't want you to think that just because I'm telling everybody that we need to rest, that means to you know go to sleep.

unknown 12:00

Uh uh-uh.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

We are simply recharging so that we are able to run this last stretch and give it all. Okay.

Share The Reminder And Choose Joy

SPEAKER_00 12:12

So thank you so much for tuning in to another episode. If this episode resonated with you, send it to somebody who needs a reminder that they are allowed to slow down. Maybe send it to your mama, okay? And no T no shade, but you know what I'm saying? As a woman from a black queen, sometimes we need my mama knows the art of laying down, though. My dad needs to listen to this message, okay? But anyway, breathe. Give yourself a moment, choose yourself, and as always, choose joy. Duh.