Burnout is real! And I talk from experience. Over my adult life, I’ve had multiple cases of crash and burn, and have learned a thing or two about how to prevent it. But I’m still human and get it wrong sometimes. I’m sharing my story here in the hopes it will help you.
How my recent case of burnout happened
I’d been working at hyper speed for a few weeks. I may have had some burnout warning signs during this time, but I was likely going too fast to notice.
My burnout attack happened on a very busy Friday afternoon. I was flying through the day, feeling good as I ticked off one task after another. But then, out of nowhere BAM! I got a tingling and numbness in my body, and I felt like I’d been hit by a ton of bricks.
My intuition guided me straight home and I crashed. I had to cancel the rest of my afternoon commitments, and all my Friday evening family and friends fun plans. My body and spirit were done. I’m sure they tried to tell me, but I just didn’t listen.
What I learned from my latest burnout case
I readily admit that I’m a recovering people-pleaser. I’ve also had to work hard to reframe a limiting belief that my self-worth is tied to how much I accomplish. But my recent experience was a timely reminder that I needed to revisit these learnings, and focus on practicing what I preach. This came in the form of reevaluating where I was spending my time, and how I was responding to challenges.
As you can see from my example, just because I’m a life coach and teach people how to rewrite their limiting victim stories, doesn’t mean I get it right in my own life all the time. But what I do know is that the challenges I face are there to grow me; I just need to listen.
The impact of our busy lives
You would never drive your car without gas, right? Yet we drive our bodies without gas all the time. We push ourselves to the limit because there just aren’t enough hours in the day for all we want to get done.
Being constantly connected doesn’t help either. In fact, being in a constant state of screen stimulation - be it phone, laptop, TV or iPad - is a recipe for disaster. Worse still is forcing yourself to deal with toxic situations and people.
In my case, when I burned out and crashed, I couldn’t do anything for anyone. How can you give back when you’re running on empty?
While I admit it was fun to talk on the phone with friends and watch Netflix when I was resting, I didn’t have to crash to do that. I could have scheduled my time better, said no instead of saying yes, and enjoyed the journey instead of rushing to get to the finish line.
Practice self-care
Here’s the REAL TALK: no one and nothing is more important than YOU!
As we approach the most hectic time of year, I invite you to try putting yourself first. Set your boundaries; say ‘no’ if you need to; and limit your interactions with negative situations. After all, you really don’t want to spend all your energy getting your energy back.
Spend your energy up front by taking care of yourself. I promise you it will be the greatest gift you give yourself this holiday season.
If you’d like some tips on how to practice self-care, check out: The power of saying no, Want some handy tips to get more done in your day? and The New Year Challenge – get your energy back.