Every couple of years when I buy a new phone, during the initial setup I head into my settings and turn on my battery percentage indicator. The default battery icon doesn’t give me enough insight into the status of my battery life… Similar to the fuel gauge in my truck, whenever that little battery indicator drops below full, I feel as though the battery level starts to drop quicker than Samsung’s stock after their phones started exploding.
Why you may ask? Why is THAT such an important feature to me when it has been available on every phone in the over saturated market since the Nokia 4 bar days? Honestly, I don’t know…but seeing a percentage is much easier than converting the battery bar into fractions using a series of poorly constructed mental algorithms (#math). In reality, I’m never too far from a charge and I can ration my battery by avoiding the lure of an electronic dopamine hit so I guess it doesn’t really matter.
What would happen if our devices didn’t have an indicator of any type? How would you know how much time you had left? What happens when you reach 50%…30%…5% ? Do you temper your usage in some way? Do your habits change as your levels drop? Do you focus on what’s necessary and most important? Do you filter what apps you use? Do you close out of the apps after you check them? How do you get the most life…out of your phone?
So far, these words have had the weight of small talk about the weather in the middle of an aisle at your local Walmart…but what would you say our battery in life is? Is it physical? Did you think of your heart? Or food? Water? Is it our mentality? Our state of mind? Our lives don’t have a battery indicator…our battery can expire at any moment, without warning.
What saps your energy quickly? What replenishes your power? Are the answers to these questions found in people? Or isolation? Activity or relaxation? Do certain systems within our vessel operate off separate battery systems? Can you put a face and a name to someone with power levels reading 0% in the mind and 75% body? What about someone with 95% mind and 5% body? Is that a life worth living?
How do we maintain balance in our life until we reach the end of our single-serving life charge? I see our systems similar to an early 90’s video game character’s statistics. 
Our main battery is our life span. Our life span could last 100 years or end sometime in the near future. We can never be sure…all we can do is live life, assuming we’ll live well into our later years.
If we return to the 90’s video game character analogy, I believe the remaining attributes for our character are independent of the main system. They supplement the life span, adding value to life. While our life span dwindles, these energy sources keep happiness and mobility levels within our control. There are people in my life that make me feel charged to 100%. There are also energy vampires that pull every ounce of energy out of me. There are activities that make me feel lighter, faster, and stronger. There are also activities, or lack thereof, that weigh me down and make me feel terrible.
Our life span is a battery with single charge, no guarantee, and no expiration date; however, when we find the people, activities, and moments that make us feel charged, we can live balanced, youthful lives until the end, no matter how early or late that may be.
Ryan Branscum 