This time last year, I was sitting in my office as I am today, only there are two completely different states of emotions happening. In a sense the temperment of the World swirling around has not changed. The temperament has been on edge before Covid, during Covid and even to this day. The emotional state of the World did not change my emotions and will not change yours. You cannot expect things to get better when the World gets better or you will be waiting your whole life to be happy.
This time last year, I was frantically working away and making 100 contacts a day with huge marketing strides trying to outpace the market. Who has been there? I think we all have it in some form or fashion... We try to counteract what our family is going to say or do. We try to get in front of our kids by saying something silly or foolish. We try to stop the words, actions, and things beyond our control.
Burnout does not happen because of trying to do this once. Burnout happens because we are working on everyone else, preventing something else, and running from fear as hard and as long as we can. Burnout comes after the short lived reward of accomplishment.
Accomplishment is a drug we use over and over to get our fix of 'good enough.' We seek it out in hopes that we will now feel 'good enough.' and for a short while we do.
I used to not believe in burn out (as if burn out is a belief) and thought it was an excuse to take a vacation or take some 'me time' which I also did not believe in. December- January of last year taught me many new lessons and one being burnout is real. I had NO CLUE that I was in the middle of burnout as I burned everything to the ground, figuratively, of course. I was done with real estate and leadership. I wanted to just start over. I became the buyer with buyer fatigue but instead compassion fatigue. My empathy was nowhere to be found. My mind only focused on the things going wrong. I found no joy in anything I was doing and any accomplishment no longer gave me the dopamine it once did.
I hit a new breaking point. I was going through the motions and still doing much more but empty inside. You may be feeling this. You may be feeling like this market is eating me up and I am drowning at sea silently. This is actually good because it is a sign and a signal that you are not living in your genius space. You are not living in your passionate space. You are not living in your happiness. It is just a sign.
What can you do once you recognize that you are in fact in burnout?
You can start taking time to create some magic again. "But I don't have the money, time, resources, etc. to do that." The truth is you do. For me, creating magic meant tapping into learning new leadership and business models. Learning always gets my gears churning. It was also taking the time to reconnect with my spouse. Create the magic. There is no better season than now to do that. Volunteer, get out of your head, invite a friend over for dinner, listen to a new podcast. Just do something that reconnects you back to yourself.
Cut the fat off. Whatever is taking your energy and time while producing little to no result has to go. You already know who and what this is for you. It may be a heartbreaking decision to cut someone or something that you put a ton of time into, but what is worse than the resources you have already put in, is to put more into something draining you. Cutting the fat from your life opens you up to add more of what you love, thus moving you out of burnout.
Change the view. Redefine the emotions you are chasing and the way you are perceiving the situations. I guarantee there is liquid gold that you are missing and the view of the same picture can look completely different. The things we see, think and feel are only assigned the meaning we give it. This is why what someone thinks, believes and feels is true... for them! They and only them can change their truth. You have that much power too!
If you are needing someone to talk to, Lets un-spaghetti your brain.
You can email me at info@momentumbymonica.com
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