I was grabbing coffee with a younger friend once, and he was complaining about being tired. It wasn’t the kind of tired you get from working too hard; it was that invisible, nameless exhaustion. Almost as a joke, I blurted out: “Do you ever feel like your life is worth less than a smartphone?”
He gave a sad laugh, then stayed silent for a long time before saying something very real: “When I’m tired, I don’t have a place to plug in like a phone does.”
That sentence made me freeze. It’s obvious when a phone runs out of battery—no one blames it for that. But humans are different. Adults aren’t allowed to run out of energy. If you’re tired, you have to push through; if you’re bored, you endure; if you’re sad, you handle it yourself. Gradually, being “low battery” becomes our default state, to the point where we can’t even remember what it feels like to be truly energized.
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The exhaustion born of our lifestyle
The thing is, often we aren’t even doing that much. The workload is the same, our schedule isn’t too packed, yet the exhaustion still smothers us. That’s because the things that drain us the most aren’t just the tasks we have to do—it’s the way we have to force ourselves to live every day:
- Tired of always playing the role of someone who is “doing great.”
- Tired of nodding along to things we don’t want or believe in.
- Tired of the fear of letting others down.
Humans don’t run out of battery because they are running too many “apps,” but because they are playing too many “roles.” When you force yourself into a mold labeled “bread and butter” for too long, your energy drains slowly and silently. By the time you notice, the battery is already dead. The scariest part is when this state lasts so long that we start to shrug and think: Living like this is normal.
“A phone needs a battery to function, but a human needs energy to truly live.”
Short-term “charging stations” and the price we pay
We often comfort ourselves with familiar ways of “recharging”: coffee, shopping, eating out, partying, or endless entertainment. It feels good at first, but that joy is fleeting.
Food tastes great when you’re hungry, but it’s unappealing when you’re full; if you force yourself to eat more, it becomes nauseating. Joy is the same way. When used as a “painkiller” for the soul, it loses its effect very quickly. I’ve seen many people complain about being tired or miserable, only to throw themselves into the same old stress-relief habits. A few days later, everything is exactly the same. They’re still tired, still bored, and still feel the weight of life. The problem isn’t that they didn’t “charge” enough—it’s that they are charging the wrong way.
Learning to recharge for real: From body to mind
After years of observation and personal experience, I’ve come to understand: a high-energy state doesn’t just happen on a lucky day. It is the result of many ordinary days lived the right way:
- Eating well and being kind to your body.
- Getting enough consistent sleep without breaking your biological clock.
- Maintaining moderate but regular exercise.
- And most importantly: Keeping your mind from being flooded with toxic things like sensationalist news, drama, anger, or bitterness. Negative emotions don’t just tire the spirit; they silently drain physical energy.
I choose to live a life with minimal conflict. It’s not because I’m weak; it’s because I know the price of those negative emotions is too high. Even tiny things—like not honking my horn in traffic or not reacting immediately to provocations—are ways I protect my energy. It’s not about being a “good person”; it’s about not making myself suffer.
“Sometimes, living with high energy isn’t about doing something new—it’s about stopping the things that are silently draining you.”
Don’t ask “How can I stop being tired?”, ask “How am I living?”
Life doesn’t always make us feel “full.” But if you constantly feel depleted, that isn’t normal anymore. No one has a charging port like a phone, but everyone has the choice to live in a way that drains their “battery” less.
A truly energized state isn’t loud or hyperactive. It’s simply the feeling of waking up each morning and feeling like you have enough strength to get through the day—and not hating it. Humans don’t recharge with money, coffee, shopping, or short-term pleasures. We recharge through the way we treat our bodies, our minds, and the world every single day.
When you understand that, you’ll stop asking:
“How can I stop being tired?”
And start asking:
“How have I been living that has left me tired for this long?”
If you’ve read this far and see yourself in these words, remember that you aren’t alone. Do you have your own way or experience in keeping your energy resilient? Don’t hesitate to share—who knows, your story might be the “charging station” someone else needs right now!
