5 things I learned while healing burnout for good
Burnout is the norm in our society. There are a million products you can buy to get better sleep and more energy but the long-term solution lies in doing your inner work, not getting a new mattress. Read on if you’re ready to heal burnout NOW from the inside.
Photo by Henrikke Due on Unsplash
Tiredness vs. Burnout
I’m a single mum to a 10 month-old - I know physical tiredness well. Tiredness occurs when we don’t sleep enough or don’t take care of our physical bodies.
Burnout is more than just a physical feeling, it’s what happens when we ignore our emotional, mental and spiritual needs; instead of feeding the energy inside us, we block it or deplete it.
Here are some ways you might be depleting your energy:
You worry constantly about the past or future
No matter what you’re doing, you always feel like you should be doing something else
Self doubt is your baseline state
You judge yourself for resting or having fun
Because of that judgement, you end up filling your spare time with scrolling, drinking, compulsive spending, mindless eating, or some other activity that is numbing rather than nourishing you
People-pleaser is your middle name
You are unconsciously engaging in behaviours that were passed down from previous generations of busy-aholics
You’re ungrounded and disembodied. Your body is just a meatsuit to carry your head around.
If you resonated with even some of the list above, you are likely experiencing symptoms of burnout: insomnia, anxiety, depression, mood swings, brain fog, digestive issues and more.
Are you ready to change that? Are you ready to heal this?
My story: healing burnout for good
When I tell people who just met me that I used to be a full-blown workaholic, they look at me like "Girrrrrl, you full of s**t!" But really, I was. And I have a 12 step program to prove it.
Picture 28 year-old me running around New York City with two jobs, a PhD, a million meetings and SO MUCH STUFF I HAD TO GET DONE RIGHT NOW. It was exhausting.
My body made the decision to get me out of NYC (first time I really listened to it) and in 2012 I found myself in the hills of Massachusetts, finally slowing down. It was an inspiring, frustrating, expansive, wonderful, scary-as-hell experience and it TRANSFORMED ME FROM THE INSIDE OUT.
It's likely that you also struggle with slowing down + truly receiving because 80% of people who visit my website tell me that's the case.
If you are constantly on-the-go, it's hard to listen to your intuition, which talks quietly and often in subtle ways. And who has time for subtlety when you're just running to get through the damn day? It's a Catch 22 kinda sitch when you’re moving too fast to listen to the piece of you that could help you to slow down.
I see you my friend and YOU ARE SO NOT ALONE.
*deep exhale*
So what now?
Healing from burnout doesn't mean we just sit around all day eating bon bons. But it does mean that we reconnect to our center and to the piece of us (our intuition) that knows:
Whether that action is going to *light us up* or drain us
When to be creative, productive and out there & when to slow down and go within
How to emotionally regulate and manage our energy so we can connect with those we care about, do the things we love and not get sucked into paralysis, fear or self criticism.
the top 5 things I learned
Like the Moon, I am a cyclical being. I go through phases. When I ignore that reality, I suffer and when I honour it, I thrive. I needed people to tell me that this was even a thing (I had NO idea) and then to teach me how to do it.
One of the reasons I never stopped moving was because I didn't want to FEEL MY FEELS or LISTEN TO MY OWN MIND. I was terrified of both. I needed TOOLS + TRIBE in order to have the courage, tenacity and wherewithal to do that. Doing it alone and with the tools I had wasn't an option.
Learning to listen to my body was a crucial step that felt utterly confusing at first. I needed people to model it for me and I needed sisters to check in with who were in the labyrinth with me.
This journey required HUGE amounts of patience because healing from burnout is NOT a linear path. And when I forgot to have patience (which was often) I needed others to reflect back to me that I was exactly where I needed to be in that moment.
I needed to scrap everything I thought I knew and be willing to be surprised at every turn. Unlearning what capitalism, patriarchy and my own lineage taught me was a moment-by-moment thing. I needed people around me who had faith in The Mystery and in what didn't exist yet. I needed fellow travelers, dreamers and optimists. I still do.
You: I CAN’T heal from this NOW. I have kids / a 9 to 5 job / stuff to do!
Me: I hear you. And you can still do this. Entering motherhood a year ago presented me with a whole new set of challenges but I can honestly say that, whilst parenting has pushed me to my limits on many occasions, it has not led me back to burnout. Rather it has increased my commitment to using my TOOLS and my TRIBE in order to stay ahead of burnout and reimagine what parenting can look like. (And I'm not just navigating a baby right now, I'm also going through a breakup!)
If it would feel nourishing to you, you can book a HEALING FROM BURNOUT reading today. I created it just for people like you (and like me) who need to know that deep nourishment is possible and then want some clear guidance on how to get there. We will explore exactly where you’re at, what your needs are, what the best resources are and how you can start your journey today. The cards are there to offer direction and a spark of wisdom from the Universe but, as usual, we’re aiming at getting you in touch with your own wisdom.
Tell me about your journey with burnout
Where are you at with this? Comment below or click HERE for my Contact page and write me back!
Are you feeling the burn?
Are you starting to recover? Or heading for the bottom?
What are your hopes and fears?
What are your challenges?
Where is your growing edge?
What would you love right now in terms of support or inspiration?
What do you really really need?
Where do you need help?
I’ll be putting together more resources soon, so if you haven’t given me your feedback yet, now is the time. Tell me about you so that I can tailer my offerings to YOUR needs.
You're not alone sister.
With love,
Laura
p.s. Do you have a friend who really needs to hear this today? Forward these words to them now! Because friends don’t want friends to live in adrenal fatigue forever.
p.p.s. If you want powerful support as you navigate the big-feelings that come with doing your own inner work, I have a resource for you. My tarot card cheat sheet consists of questions to journal on and contemplate, and a way of accessing the tool of tarot that is perfect for anyone who is working with a big shift inside themselves. Click HERE to read more and to download the guide, completely free.