Are You Actually Recharging?

I have recently started to drive a completely electric car, which means I have become surprisingly familiar with the language of charging.

Home charging. Top-up charging. Ultra-rapid mega charging.

And, perhaps most frustratingly, thinking the car is charging when it actually isn’t.

You pull into the charging station. Plug in the cable. Tap the screen. Press a few buttons.

Everything looks right.

Then you come back later and discover that somewhere in the process, the connection wasn’t quite made.

The car was beside the charger.
The cable was plugged in.
But no energy had transferred.

It made me wonder:

How often do we do the same thing to ourselves?

Not everything that looks like recharging actually is

I know many of the things that recharge me.

Walking. Being outside. Good conversation. Creating. Connecting with people I care about.

These are the things I naturally reach for when my energy is running low.

And they genuinely help.

But I’ve started to notice something else.

Sometimes I choose things that look like recharging without ever really making the connection.

I go for a walk but spend the whole time thinking about what I need to do next.

I sit down to rest and pick up my phone.

I spend time with people I love but arrive distracted.

Technically, I’ve pulled into the charging station.

But I’m not necessarily connected to the power.

And then there is another kind of recharge altogether.

My mega charger

I am naturally a relationship builder.

I love people. I love conversation. I love connecting ideas through conversation and discovering what happens in the space between people.

So when I need energy, connection is often where I instinctively go.

But I’ve realised that one of my most powerful ways of recharging is almost the opposite:

Deep thinking. Alone. Without interruption.

It isn’t something I naturally reach for.

I have to create space for it. Protect it. Sometimes resist the temptation to fill it with another conversation, another task or another piece of input.

But when I do, something changes.

The noise settles.

Thoughts that have been circling begin to connect.

Ideas find somewhere to land.

I can hear myself again.

And perhaps that is my version of mega charging.

Not simply doing more of what already comes naturally to me, but deliberately accessing another source of energy.

Your mega charger might surprise you

Perhaps recharging isn’t only about asking:

What do I love doing?

Perhaps we also need to ask:

What do I need that I don’t naturally reach for?

If you’re constantly doing, perhaps your mega charger is stopping.

If you spend most of your time thinking, perhaps it’s moving.

If you’re always caring for others, perhaps it’s receiving.

If you naturally seek solitude, perhaps it’s meaningful connection.

If you thrive on connection, like me, perhaps it’s uninterrupted time alone.

If you love certainty, perhaps it’s doing something playful without needing to know where it will lead.

We don’t necessarily need more of what we’re already good at.

Sometimes we need to connect to a different source.

A 3-step recharge check

Next time you notice your energy running low, try this:

1. NOTICE — What is actually running low?

Not just Am I tired?

Ask: What kind of energy do I need?

Physical? Emotional? Relational? Creative? Mental? Something else?

2. CONNECT — Am I actually plugged in?

Look at what you’re doing to recharge.

Are you truly present to it?

Or are you technically resting while your mind is still working, scrolling, planning or worrying?

Check the connection.

3. MEGA CHARGE — What wouldn’t I naturally choose?

Instead of automatically reaching for your usual recharge, try its counterbalance.

Ask yourself:

What might restore me precisely because it isn’t where I naturally go?

For me, right now, that’s deep thinking.

For you, it may be something completely different.

Knowing where the charger is isn’t enough.

Parking beside it isn’t enough.

Even plugging in isn’t enough.

The connection has to be made.

And sometimes, when we understand ourselves a little better, we discover that the most powerful source isn’t the one we automatically reach for.

It’s the one that gives us access to a part of ourselves we’ve been neglecting.

So perhaps the question for you this month is:

What is your mega charger?

If you arent sure… perhaps its time to consider coaching – an intentional space for you to discover more of yourself.

I’m Sarah Cretegny, an Accredited Transitions Coach. I help individuals, groups and teams navigate real-life transitions without losing themselves.

I’m particularly effective when time is limited and the stakes are high. I draw on evidence-based coaching approaches, strengths expertise and my lived experience of leadership, family life and international living.

I’m passionate about partnering with people to coach their wild — because the world needs more radically authentic leaders, now more than ever.

Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, I coach virtually around the world.

Find my links: https://linktr.ee/discover.your.wild