"Do not let your current situation determine your destination!"
My Story
— From Burnout to Breakthrough…
Fall 2009 was when everything started shifting. I could no longer dim the light on the many symptoms I was experiencing; and running into my family doctor signaled that pretending to be okay no longer worked. She saw right through me and asked me to book an appointment asap. I was in her office the following week and when the diagnostic fell, i.e. burnout, I could no longer deny that I what I already suspected. I finally had to face the truth.
Though I had never felt this exhausted before, there was a voice in my head that kept repeating that as a single parent of three kids, I could not afford myself the luxury of having a depression, let alone be on burnout. The kids needed me, and I was also the sole breadwinner in the household. I just knew I had to figure a way out of this mess as quickly as possible. So I dug my heels and fought my way out of the burnout. Though I relented and took the lowest dose of the medication prescribed, I added a few daily action items to get me back and functioning faster.
So, my "Get Out of Burnout" action plan was (for the short-term):
- Take medication for three months and then start weaning myself off them so as to be totally off medication within six months.
- Get out of bed every morning, shower, and get dressed
- Exercise outside of the house for at least 30 minutes every single day.
- Interact face to face with people every day
- Feed my mind with uplifting information for at least 15-30 minutes a day
- Find three new things that I am grateful for every day
- Do something that nurtures my soul every day
- Do something meaningful with the girls every day
- Be present in the moment
- Enjoy genuine laughter at least once a day
Every day, I have to decide who I am going to show up as.
Every single day, I have to know what I stand up for and what I will choose to focus on.
Every single day, I have to weed out the distractions in order to ensure that I am in alignment with what I want for my life and move forward accordingly.
Breakthrough
I now choose me every single day in order to provide the best contribution that I can give to this world.
Understanding and actively seeking my purpose has allowed me to “show up” as authentic in every single thing I choose to take on.
No more wishy-washy — I am either fully in or not at all.
Learning to see myself as a “work in progress with a destination” rather than as “still years from achieving anything worth mentioning” has given me the freedom to take more risks and still thrive amidst the uncertainty. It has also allowed me to ease off on the need for perfectionism. I can tell you that my young adults like that side of me even more than I do!