The most powerful story is the one we tell ourselves and my story of late has been that when we’ve spent all day working and managing the kids, I need to watch reruns of The Office while eating ice cream on the couch at night. And let me tell you, this is a story I can really get behind! There’s just one problem here though...

When I buy this story I tell myself, I’m escaping but I’m not recharging.

Now before your alarm bells go off, I’m not suggesting that you need to be ‘crushing it’ during quarantine times. Far from it. Instead, I’m calling your attention to the importance of doing things that help us recharge and not just escape. Here are some things I’ve been trying to do more to help me recharge:

• Push ups and stretching when I get out of bed in the morning.

• Walks to start my day and again in the afternoon.

• Yoga at night after the kids go to bed.

• Leisure reading before bed.

These rarely all happen in any one day and I’m careful not to beat myself up when they don’t but I am more mindful of their importance. Now before settling into the couch at night with a bowl of ice cream on my lap to watch Jim torture Dwight, I think about what I’ve done today to help me recharge. 

When I have done these things, I find I’m more relaxed – even if I am tired – and don’t feel the need to zone out as much. When I haven’t done these things, it’s a reminder why I need to prioritize them. It also prevents me from using Netflix as a mindless escape until we wake up and do it all over again tomorrow.

When we’re not careful about the story we tell ourselves about our finances, we also look for ways to escape instead of recharge.

We overextend to buy things that aren’t aligned with what we value. We spend on experiences that make us feel better in the moment – i.e. escaping – instead of making informed choices with our money that recharge our financial well-being now and set us up for future success.

Try this quick exercise:

1. Instead of trying to escape your current reality, write down a list of things you can do – personally and financially – that will help you recharge. 

2. When you’re done, start with the easiest thing on the list. 

3. Then next time you find yourself on the couch with a bowl of ice cream wondering how much longer you can keep all of this up, pull out your list as a reminder that it’s time to recharge. 

And remember, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to start doing the things that help you recharge again. I hope this post serves as an easy first step in helping you do just that.

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