Louise Thompson: We care more about cellphone than self

Take care of yourself better than your smartphone. There is only one of you. You are far less easy to replace.

The inimitable Arianna Huffington (founder of The Huffington Post and listed as the 52nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes) spoke in New Zealand last year and to say I was excited to see her is an understatement.

Arianna has always fascinated me. She is a media and political heavyweight, but what appeals to me most is that she has shouted loud about the bottom-line value of wellbeing in big business. That we have a personal and corporate responsibility to take care of our wellbeing. Her bestselling book Thrive documents her journey from collapse from fatigue back to wellness. There are so many parallels with what I write about here and my own book The Busy Woman's Guide to High Energy Happiness about my journey from collapse from fatigue back to wellness that I couldn't wait to hear her speak.

She did not disappoint. She was radiant and spoke with real power. I'm going to share my favourite analogy from her speech, as it resonated so strongly:

"We are taking care of our smartphones better than we are taking care of ourselves."

She has a point. You know how it is, when you notice the battery on your phone is running down it's actually an almost panicky feeling. I know I am not alone in asking a cafe to recharge my phone, or being at a meeting and charging it mid-meeting. Only 12 freaking per cent battery left! What will I do? Must charge that phone. Immediately!

However, the day I collapsed at work from extreme fatigue, never to return, I was down to, what, three per cent of my body's battery? But I had never stopped and prioritised recharging it. I just sort of assumed my own personal battery was infinitely recharging. Like I am sort of one woman Duracell bunny.

Stupid, right? We check and look at our phone battery life all the time. We get it charged if it's running low. That's important, goddamit! Can't be without our phone.

How often do we check in and look at the level of our own body's battery? Nowhere near as often. We have our priorities a little bit messed up. Arianna is right.

"We are taking care of our smartphones better than we are taking care of ourselves."

So, stop. Right now! What does your own personal battery readout say? Are you at 80, 45 or 12 per cent of vitality, energy and wellbeing? Scan your body and find out. Put a percentage on it. If it needs charging, then do what you would do with your phone. Charge it up. We need a high charge to power through life and attend to what is important to us with ease and grace.

This is an easy new habit to commit to. Check in with your own personal battery level each time you check your phone charge. If it's running low, give it a quick boost with a walk round the block. A chat with a friend. Five minutes quiet time. Going to bed early. Ditching the coffee for a peppermint tea. Little recharging pitstops that keep your battery topped up.