Low Battery: The Charge to Assess Your Accessibility

Unpopular opinion: accessibility is not always positive a positive word. Being accessible is not always ideal, most optimal, or even the absolute right thing to do. Here is what I mean. We want and need certain goods, services, and opportunity to be accessible, but you as a person- your presence, your mind, your capability, and even your potential- does not always need to be accessible. To you, these inherent dimensions should be discernable and dispensable, but certainly not to everybody around you, and even to those select individuals- not all the time. You have to steward you; it is one of the wisest and healthiest things you can do. If you do not, circumstances and people will have you.

An electric vehicle mirrors how we should stop to steward ourselves

It's funny and slightly ironic that we are building drones while overlooking the drones many of us have become. Believe me- I can be guilty person número uno, trying to operate on "E" with "to-do" lists to the ceiling: remote, no logic, little-to-no energy, suppressed feelings, and ignored needs (think food, community). Many times, we move with no assessment of our faculties; our presence is a ghost-like shadow of who we are at our best- alert and aware, sensitive and sane, coherent, energized, and appropriately-emotive.

A few weeks ago, I was tiiiiiiired, spent physically, mentally, and emotionally. I totally underestimated how much a set of activities drained me and kept pushing. I honestly did not count the cost and at the end of it realized I was emptier than my favorite concentrated drink, emptier than a depleted electric vehicle (EV) car battery. Thinking through it more, it would have been helpful to have not only thought through the marathon ahead of time but planned for recharges. Speaking of which, particularly at this stage in development, that is one of the more illuminating and illustrative things about EVs. You are able to see how using different conditions and features affect the EV's range. You become acutely aware of things like using the air conditioning, the temperature outside, and blasting the infotainment system. You are more conscious in your use and adapt internal resources accordingly.

I am not telling you not to be present, unhelpful, or excuse absent-mindedness. But, exercise discernment to meter and avail yourself. An executive I met recently shared that she retreats to the beach, unseen and unreachable to all but her husband. In short, don't wait for your next pit stop to assess what is left. Plan for and intentionally make time intermittently. Based on time alone, you are an asset, a replenishable one at that. Charge responsibly.

Photo by dcbel on Unsplash