We’re all fragile.

If we don’t breathe for a few seconds, we die. If we don’t sleep for a few nights, we go completely crazy. And we need more than water, food, air and sleep. Being a normal functioning human, let alone a happy one, requires a lot.

But if we want to be able to get anything done properly, we need bandwith. I don’t love that term. It’s very robotic. I just mean, you need a little extra fuel in the tank.

Imagine a laptop. Now let the battery drain to 1%. Start to load up and use lots of memory intensive programs. Watch the computer struggle. Now plug the charger back in and let the battery fill back up. Would you call that self-care? How about trying to book a plane ticket on a phone with 2G internet connection. Is moving back in close range of a 5G antenna self-care?

When we are resourced (nope, don’t like that either), we have the ability to do things at the very least, properly. It may not be a pleasurable task, but you’re in less pain than you could be.

A practical example is when you go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. I don’t think we are always conscious that we’re hungry. You just start to be a bit more irritable, anxious and unhappy than usual.

But when you’ve had something nice to eat and drink, it’s easier for you to shop. It’s harder for you to get stressed. You might even pause to let someone (hungry) push in front of you. Maybe you notice that you don’t really mind. Something like benevolence isn’t always available. But it’s more likely to be available if you have the bandwith for it.

The downside? With all that extra bandwith, you might decide to skip buying the cinnamon scroll. It’s delicious.

Also published on Buddha Bike – Substack