Each generation, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z, brings its own set of values, expectations, and communication styles. It’s important for us to recognize and acknowledge these differences when we’re examining burnout.
We all have unique ways of connecting with others, and establishing boundaries (or a lack of boundaries) in relationships. These patterns or attachment styles, which are rooted in our early experiences, play a crucial role in shaping who we are and how we achieve work-life balance… or not and eventually end up burnt out
Letting go of control isn’t easy for me. And the idea of “surrendering” and “trusting” in some all-knowing being – forget about it.
But, I’ve learned a way that works for me, my traumatized nervous system, and my highly sensitive nature.
If I can learn how to let go of control and surrender, I know you can too.
We just have to start in the right place.
I’ve been feeling a lot of moral distress lately with the state of the world, politically, environmentally, humanitarianly, conflict, war, genocide. It’s feeling very overwhelming for me as a highly sensitive person. I think it’s feeling like too much for most of us, really
Meditation is tough, especially when you’re a high achiever. Stay with me while we talk about meditation for high achievers
There, I said it.
I’ve been practicing meditation for almost 20 years and it’s still wickedly hard for me to do.
Objectivity is a core value of mine. So maybe that’s also a reason why I don’t resonate with the typical daily gratitude practice. To me gratitude practice just seems too forced. Too focused on finding a silver lining – which often discounts the struggles we may be facing.
When I first learned about burnout I heard it was a stress management problem. Essentially it was too much stress and not enough coping strategies to deal with all that stress. But after my own epic burnout experience, I realized that way of perceiving burnout was wrong. The truth is, burnout is not a stress management problem. It’s an energy management problem. And that completely changes the way we look at burnout recovery strategies.
I wish I could meet the person who first said that you need 30 minutes per day of self-care so that I could shake them and ask “why????”.
Finding a solid 30 minutes to dedicate to yourself is pretty difficult, especially in the lives of highly sensitive high achievers, am I right? Plus, not all self-care is made equal, and there are some things we think are self-care, but are actually not.
Let’s talk about it.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the typical discussion around vulnerability isn’t actually trauma informed or inclusive, and I think that needs to change.
The typical approach to boundaries – you know, the one that’s all about telling people what you need and then washing your hands of the outcome – might not be serving us as well as we think.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t set boundaries – boundaries themselves are incredibly helpful and necessary if we want to create more calm in our life.
But how we set the boundary is almost as important as the boundary itself.