Are you feeling the overwhelming effects of stress? Do you think you’re headed toward burnout? Here’s how to make change NOW, while you can…
Maybe you CAN do everything. Here’s why you should STOP.
I have a friend who is on the road to burnout. He is young and energetic; his third child is due any day. He’s in his first year of a job in which the last two people also burned out…
He isn’t alone, either…
“Claire, I’m taking care of my elderly dad, my daughter with sick baby, and working full time. No time for my love or self life 🙁 “
“I’m stuck in bad marriage that I want out of, but it’s too complicated to leave. It’s hard to focus on the good parts of my life.”
“I just wish I knew how to make this insane pace of life stop. I need change, sooner rather than later.”
The big differences between stress and burnout
Stress is bad, but most people who are heavily stressed still feel like they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. With burnout, you mostly feel hopeless…
5 small but effective things you can do when you know you’re on the road to burnout
- Set healthy personal boundaries
- Plan and spend time caring for yourself, including exercising and eating well
- Take time off of work, or scale back so you can care for yourself
- Reduce your time engaged with technology
- Reconsider your goals
But there are three additional things that can help you when you are on the road to burnout, but these three things are the hardest ones of all…
3 HARD but critically important things you can do to get off the road to burnout
1. Find and engage with emotionally healthy friends.
Spend time with a trusted friend, coach, or mentor. Someone who might be older, but who is definitely wiser and has some experience with moving through difficult life passages.
Listen to them. Allow their support and encouragement soak into your overworked heart and soul.
You will feel resistance. It’s always easier to keep things the same (even when they are hurting you) than to make change.
Make change anyway.
2. Figure out how to prioritize, no matter what it costs.
My friend who is in the new job? Everyone wants something from him, but he doesn’t have a boss telling him which demands are most important and which are less so.
If he’s going to get off the road to burnout, he must learn to prioritize. He’ll have to make hard choices and stick by them.
So will you. No matter how angry or irritated someone else will be with you for not choosing the way you chose.
3. Learn how to leave things undone.
When you have a job in a helping profession like my friend does, EVERYTHING feels important, and truthfully, everything IS important. But he’s only one person. He can’t do it all.
It’s tough to say no, and allow things to go undone. But you are worth this.
Create clear healing space in your life and heart
The constant clatter and demands in your head can keep you from getting still, finding your center, and recovering the woman you are and were meant to be.
A gentle support system is as close as your mp3 player.
It doesn’t cost anything, and if you’ve never considered self-hypnosis, I think you’ll find that it’s definitely worth trying.
0 comments on “Get Off the Road to Burnout and Reclaim Your Gorgeous Life”