Do you know those ‘restless’ types?
Always keen to be ‘on the go’ with ants in their pants?
Or …… are you one of those?
Annette was always rushing.
Ants in her pants.
Never being able to sit down calmly and enjoy the moment.
When in the car, she leaned over her stirring wheel as if that made the car go faster and the journey quicker.
When talking to friends, she was in her head already at the next place and while shopping she was busy planning whatever was next.
Annette was always on her way to somewhere else.
She didn’t want to eat too late, so she had a longer evening.
She tried to squeeze in another chore before leaving, so she had less to do.
But it didn’t seem to make a difference, as she was still always busy……………….
Burnout was approaching
She came to see me because lately she felt out of control of her emotions and physically exhausted. She recognised some signals from the past, when she had encountered a nervous breakdown and was out of action for months. Not something she wanted to repeat.
Her mind was working overtime and she took no time to process any events or emotions. No wonder she was exhausted. Her multi-tasking mind was continuously on the go, jumping from one thought to another, her body was stiff with stress and tension because it was never allowed to relax and her emotions? Those delicate elements had been ignored for the last few years.
Annette was totally out of sync and her system was protesting.
‘Listen to the whisper of your body before it starts to scream’
Annette had forgotten she was a human BEING, as she was always focused on DOING.
Annette’s body was signaling through tiredness, that something wasn’t right. Her mood swings were telling her the same. And she needed to address her ‘out-of-sync’ system.
But what exactly wasn’t right?
It became soon clear to Annette that her busy-ness had all to do with fear. Fear for being seen. She was incredibly insecure and hoped that if she kept running, nobody would see her for what she was. She believed she was ugly, incapable, stupid and never ‘good enough’. And being all these negative attributes was a motivator to stay away from herself and run away from others at the same time.
Now, that gives you a busy life!
Annette started a coaching process where she discovered and appreciated who she really was: a talented, funny and adventurous person. She built a loving relationship with herself and from there her whole life changed.
How to stop burnout? Tips to prevent a burnout
It’s not an overnight job to change a negative relationship into a loving one, but here is how to make a start with changing an unloving relationship with yourself:
- Stop being judgmental of yourself – the only judgment can be a positive one
- Observe how you think about yourself, what you say about and to yourself
- Then change your thoughts and your self-talk into loving and caring
This will make an immediate difference about how you feel about yourself.
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