There are many good reasons to move to an electric car in 2021. Climate change, pollution, bills, noise pollution… But one that’s not quite so obvious is the direct insight that driving it (and absorbing how it responds to how you drive it) can teach us about stress management.
Driven carefully, recouping energy on downhills, taking the uphills carefully and avoiding rapid acceleration, it’s possible to eke out the miles from one charge from one charge.
However, if you slam your foot down going uphill, the range drops like a stone.
That’s also you.
And it’s more than just a metaphor. Human energy and resources are literally that: energy. Stress consumes energy because it places our physiology – our bodies – into a threat state where energy is transferred from calm consideration into muscular and kinetic readiness. It’s the reverse of sleep. You are putting your food down while going up hill prompted by the release of adrenaline and cortisol, the ignition of smooth muscles, the diversion of energy from digestion and repair.
We, quite literally, burn more watts when stressed than we do when relaxed. And we require our parasympathetic nervous system to run round the house of our body turning off the lights so we can pay our electricity bills when the time of reckoning comes.
Thus, unmanaged resource drain from our daily stress load affects all parts of our lives: home, work, family, health, sleep and just our enjoyment of life.
So here’s to recharging often and driving ourselves with care and love in 2021.
Happy New Year to all our clients, suppliers and friends… past, present and future. ?