What do you do when you burn out? Some people run away. Some people run away and then run back after figuring out how not to burn out any more. Laurie (our hero!) did the latter and shares with us her wisdom Great read! – InPower Editors
I feel great.
I share this because I’m getting a lot of people asking me these days “How are you doing?” “How’s your energy?” “Everything going ok?”
I appreciate the concern and I want you to know I am feeling great.
You might be asking, “why are people concerned about me? And what does that have to do with me reinventing my life?”
Two months ago I began my latest reinvention – taking a leadership position at a company. But not any company; I returned to the company where I burnt out.
I know people are concerned I will burnout again. Or worse, have an MS relapse.
I appreciate the concern, but I’m not worried about burning out. Having reinvented myself about a dozen times, I realized I’ve learned a few lessons that I’d like to share with you.
Let Self-love Fuel Your Reinvention
Unlike during my first reinvention years ago, I now have tools to make re-invention less painful and more energizing. I also love myself enough to use these tools. You see for years I didn’t possess the self-love necessary to create boundaries, have a positive attitude in the face of setbacks and put my self-care first. The logical result was burnout.
I embarrassingly admit that many of my early reinventions were driven by fear. I was running away from something. I would change jobs out of a desire to get away from a bad boss or soulless work. Not bad reasons, just not energizing and certainly not loving.
My early reinventions inevitably failed because I was always taking my non-self-loving self with me. It wasn’t until I learned to love myself that my reinventions held their promise of happiness.
Reinvention Lesson #1: Learn to love yourself first.
Choose To Have Faith
No matter what domain of your life you are reinventing, you will face circumstances that will challenge your self-love and drive you to the brink of burnout as you reinvent yourself. The antidote is faith.
If there was anything that was going to challenge the transformed self-loving me it was the day I had a few weeks back. I started the week with a plan. I had projects to move forward and meetings to prepare for. I was back in the swing of a corporate job. It was going to be a good week. I was certain of that.
Then Thursday it all fell apart. Every 30 minutes I received a phone call, visit or email with a major, have to be addressed now problem. The number of issues that arose in this single day was so bizarre I began to search for astrological explanations.
It was a day that would have brought me to stressed-induced tears and sugar binging years ago. I would have been stressed, anxious and nearing melt down due to the uncertainty of my schedule, the need to cancel meetings and the absence of time to work on what really matters.
But what fun would it be to view my day like this? I realized it wouldn’t be fun to relive that stressful past. I also realized I had a choice regardless of the seeming chaos around me.
I could choose to get stressed, anxious or pissed off. Or I could adapt and laugh.
I choose the latter, thanks to the depth of my aforementioned self-love and my faith in my abilities. For most of my life I doubted myself. A few years ago I began to see how my lack of faith in ME, was holding me back. I have pledged to myself in this reinvention to choose to have faith. So far, so good.
Reinvention Lesson #2: Reinvention will have it challenges, have faith you can handle it.
Leave Your Judgment At The Door
Whether reinventing your career, a relationship, or your health – it’s essential to seek the guidance of others. It’s easy to judge those who have gone before you and thus reject their guidance. Don’t, unless you prefer to do things the hard way.
I’ve done this many times: I see someone who has done something I want to do or achieved a dream I have and I immediately think: “she has something I don’t, or he’s lucky he knows so-and-so.” And then I ignore everything they have to say about how they achieved their dream.
What I was really doing was judging myself as unworthy and the guide as superior. This only set me up for failure.
Logic aside, I will admit that there have been moments where I’ve questioned if my well-being, productivity and happiness advice actually works for those working in the corporate world. In these moments, I take a deep breath and remember the hundreds of times that choosing happiness has worked for others and me. My faith is restored and I am reminded how we can all be blinded to guidance by own judgment.
Reinvention Lesson #3: Set aside your judgment of yourself and others and be open to guidance from those who have walked the path you wish to take.
Re-invention is a normal part of life if we are to embrace life fully. How are you reinventing your life now? Share in the comments below.
Originally on: LinkedIn.com
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