How’s Your Battery?
By Tim Jack Adams
No, not your phone battery but your own personal battery. If you’re like me, each and every night before I go to bed I make sure that all my devices are plugged in so when I wake up they are fully charged for the next day.
And what I found, just like my phone, is that during the day when my battery would start to get low, if I forget to recharge it, I would start to close down applications. What I realised was that I was doing the same. I would start to close down people around me, shut people out (not sure if you do this too). Just like when your phone’s battery drops below 10% and its light dims, I discovered that I experienced a similar phenomenon. I found when my own battery got really low, particularly when I was in survival mode, I would actually start to dimmer my own light, I would become a fraction of who I was, the light inside me would dim as well and I wasn’t giving the best version of myself to anybody and most importantly those that I love.
What I came to realise is that, much like my phone, I needed to consciously make an effort to reconnect and recharge myself every day. By doing so, I could wake up the next day with a full battery, filled with vitality and energy to tackle my tasks, and still have something left in the tank for my loved ones.
Wellbeing means to be in a comfortable state mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually but it’s the word ‘wellness’ that needs to be in focus. Wellness means the deliberate effort to get into a state of wellbeing.
I heard this word recently from a friend called ‘kaizen’ and I loved it, Kaizen is Japanese for continuous improvement (how good is that) and I thought that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past 10 years! Each day trying to continually improve, little bit by little bit to become a better version of myself.
In the last two years with all that is going on, I’ll admit it’s been hard to kaizen, some of us have managed to function and some of us barely survived. Let’s put this into perspective from the latest data; almost half of all Australians, even in a relationship, are saying that they are lonely. Being lonely is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day!
In addition, it’s important to note that one in six people around you are facing mental health challenges. When you consider the fact that we spend less time outdoors than even maximum security prisoners, it becomes even more crucial to care. This is because actively immersing ourselves in our natural environment has shown remarkable positive effects on our overall wellbeing.
Despite being more interconnected in society through technology, there is an overwhelming sense of disconnection we feel from ourselves, from one another, and from the incredible natural environment that we consider our home. We have forgotten that it’s the warmth of relationships that give us life’s greatest satisfaction – statistics show that on average we spend 46 hours of our down time each week being spectators through screens and only 3 hours building positive human connections. It’s no wonder people are lonely, depressed and struggling to find our own purpose.
We want to turn these statistics around both at an individual level
and for our shire and eventually our nation. We’ve created a way to give you an overall snapshot of your battery in just 60 seconds. You can see where you are thriving and also the areas that may need some tweaking, so you can continue to kaizen!
From this moment on, you have the opportunity to create a life that you want to wake up to each and every day. A life full of purpose, meaning and belonging. To live a life that’s true to yourself and not the expectations of others. To live a life from the best version of you and to project that positive energy to those you love. Because just the same way you wish your loved ones to be healthy and happy, they are wishing the same for you.
Tim Jack Adams is a thought leader and speaker in the Wellness Industry and has created an overarching framework for wellbeing that enables leaders, teams and organisations to thrive sustainably. Tim has worked with the Australian
Defence Force, Red Bull, Olympians and many of the world’s top companies both at home and abroad through his company GreenX7. Tim is a sought-after keynote speaker, workshop facilitator and expert advisor on wellness for corporations in the Asia Pacific region.
Tim is also the owner of Watersports Guru. An adventure tourism company based on the Tweed Coast. It was in 2012 while sitting under the red tent by Cudgen Creek watching people at play that he asked the question – “Why is it when we actively engage in nature do we seem healthier and happier?”
Since then he and his team have made it their mission to ‘measure and improve Australia’s wellbeing’ and wants the Tweed to lead the way in nature based social prescribing, inspiring a prevention before prescription lifestyle.
You can connect with Tim at: tim@greenx7.com
