Recently, I was overtaken by burnout.
Have you ever experienced burnout? It is a form of stress… but greater. It used to be recognized only in the workplace as basically being worked too hard but now we recognize it more in the every day. I suppose that is our busy culture and especially with it being seen more and more with working moms.
You know those statistics that talk about the job of a mom being equivalent to 2.5 full time jobs? I am not sure what the most recent stats say but you know what I am talking about. Well- it is no wonder we are seeing more burnout in moms and especially working (outside the home) moms.
That applies to me as well…. Full time working mom, homeschooling and mom/home life.
It was only a few short weeks ago that I felt fine. Then… I wasn’t.
It was like all the stresses of all the things hit me at once. The clients that I work with, the stressors in home with the busy and the start of the school year, schedules changing, miscommunication with the husband and the upcoming anniversary of my mom’s passing. Whew. While I was searching for some relaxation, it seemed that was impossible, creating more stress. No relief seemed to show up and the stresses kept coming. I felt myself coming to a breaking point. A realization that the current standard needs to change. Or at least shift. Somehow. Some way.
Otherwise…
(the big unknown)
Luckily, I was able to take a week off to decompress and try to regroup. It was nothing like what I desired my time off to look like, as it was desired to be filled with lots of self-care time and personal time, but I had a couple very important lessons in this time off.
Burnout really equates to an issue with 2 things: boundaries AND self care.
Talk about the perfect recipe for burnout.
For me, my boundaries were around my self care. Or lack of. A huge realization that I need to better protect my self care and personal time and set better boundaries to take care of me. Because, well, honestly no one was very happy in my house the past couple weeks. The saying is (sadly) true: If momma ain’t happy, no one is happy.
Not that it should always be that way but it was for this chunk of time. When one person is suffering in the family, everyone else takes note. We all suffer. It is the ripple effect.
The second lesson that I learned during this time off was that I did not want to work with certain people or do certain things. I think I knew that before but I felt the frustration rise up in a deeper, more distinct way during this time off. It became very clear to me how I need to better communicate my needs and wants as well as better identifying my ideal client to move forward more positively with pursuing my new direction with my coaching business.
I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.
Dreams, people, circumstances are all opportunities to teach us something. They are opportunities to look deeper or help us expand or grow in various ways in our lives. Whether in our thinking or actions, relationships, ideas, business, health… you get the idea. So, this time of struggle was a time of much needed reflection. An opportunity to reflect on these areas that were already out of balance but perhaps, I did not recognize they were impacting me as they were. Sometimes it is that HARD reality check that is necessary to help us take the time to take a deeper look.
So, while burnout and stress are not exactly fun, they are helpful ways for us to slow down and take a deeper look at what is happening and make the changes that we did not know we needed. Or maybe we did know, but did not take the steps before. Either way, progress.
Have you dealt with burnout? Tell me what you learned in your experience. <3
