*Short on time? Eyes exhausted from looking at screens all day? Scroll to bottom for the TL;DR.

Have you planned your mid-year recharge? The thought hadn’t occurred to me.

(If you prefer videos over blogs, check out my IG Live on this topic.)

These last couple weeks of June I’ve come across things about midyear “reset”, midyear “check in”, midyear “reflection”, etc. Those piqued my interest a bit, but I hadn’t committed to anything.

Thinking about a midyear “anything” is new to me because as a former traditional classroom teacher I operated on the school calendar. So my mid-year reset usually aligned with all the beginning of year, new year resolution, “new year, new me” hoopla.

Now that I operate solely on the gregorian calendar (and I’m finally shaking off the energetic ebbs and flows of the school calendar) this midyear chatter got me to thinking: what about a midyear RECHARGE?

Now the idea of a midyear recharge really resonated with me since I’m currently in the gauntlet of healing intergenerational trauma.

A midyear recharge would be part of my healing process.

All women, but especially Black women, have been conditioned to go, go, go, and do, do, do. To birth, create, and give non-stop as cogs in a capitalistic patriarchal machine.

Each generation of daughters inherit these ways of being from the generation of women before them.

Some accept this way of being (whole books are written about the reasons this happens, so know this isn’t a shaming statement) while others resist the patriarchy by resting, recharging, and reclaiming their time.

One of my fave quotes right now from “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto” by Tricia Hersey is “I refuse to push my body to the brink of exhaustion + destruction.”

So I would like to invite everyone - especially women, and double especially Black women - to refuse exhaustion and prioritize time and space to recharge as we enter the next six months of the year.

Here are 4 ways to elevate a truly nourishing midyear recharge:

1. Plan to be in deep connection with nature. In whatever ways that nature brings you peace, do that! Whether it’s connecting with your inner nature through yoga/movement practices or the natural world while hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, foraging, fishing, etc

2. Plan to feel your recharge in your body. A recharge is different from resting which is different from a reset. A reset is great. It aligns with the yogic principle svadhyaya, in an extremely simplified translation svadhyaya means self-study. Taking the time to reflect and think about the first half of the year and what you will do for the next 6 months is great. Additionally, the imprints of the previous 6 months are felt by your body. Your body may be asking you to rest. Listen if so, but know that your rest cannot count as your recharge, although resting can be recharging. Your recharge needs to be something that shakes up the energy in your body. You want to feel this recharge deeply on the cellular level, to release anything that no longer serves you, and invite new energy into your body.

3. Plan to enter a state of “awe”. If you can, plan your recharge so that you experience “awe” in some form of fashion. Being in a state of “awe” helps calm the mind, soothe the soul, and tilt the corners of your mouth upwards without thinking about it. If you know the things that help you experience awe, do that. If you don’t, try something new.

4. Don’t overthink it. If there is something you can do right now to recharge, do it. Be like Nike, and “Just do it.” Easy access to a hiking trail, paddleboat, or outdoors rope course? Additionally, plan a recharge that has more depth. Maybe you go on a retreat, have a nourishing spa day, or try an online retreat.

It’s important to acknowledge that we live in a society where we have to structure + plan recharges. How did we get here? Is this the kind of living we want the next generation to inherit?

On another level, it’s important to acknowledge, those who hold identities that are marginalized and targeted by dominant culture, need recharges the most (ultimately they need and desire equity and justice) and have obstacles and hurdles in the way making them more challenging to access.

I believe there is a version of lived human experience where our days don’t drain us so much that we need to recharge midyear.

I know this version of lived experience is hard work because healing and liberation ain’t easy, but I believe we are worth it.

I believe future generations are worth it.

I believe the more than human world is worth it.

Let’s recharge and create that world.

Be dope. Be well.

💚Woods

TL;DR

• Plan a midyear recharge

• An impactful recharge is best experienced in connection with nature, felt in your body, and brings you to a state of “awe”.

• Don’t overthink it. Just do it.

• Quick recharges like an elevated mindful walk outdoors or habit forming recharges like joining the “Rewild Your Stress: An elevated invitation to recharge, refresh, + rejuvenate” online radical rewilding experience

• Acknowledge the inequity that exists in accessing time and space to recharge

• Let’s recharge and create a better world.