Features from Facilitators

Burn out and self-care

It’s not until one struggles with burn out and its associated symptoms that we realize the importance of self-care.

I never knew much about burn out until it happened to me about 2 years ago, and though I have recovered, I still find myself having to force myself to rest when I need to rest, to eat well and take care of myself. Not always easy for me. I like to push myself, throw myself into the deep end and achieve my goals to the best of my ability as well as give myself 100% to my family. But I learned some important lessons on the way. Lessons which I learned when I was in a place of burn out.

Health and wellness are not just about the physical side of things; it is also mental and emotional. If we don’t feel great emotionally and mentally, then our physical well-being suffers too.
Take time out to enjoy life, whatever that means to you. Exercise, yoga, meditation, paddle boarding to name a few. Unplug from the demands of life and focus on something that replenishes your energy.
Put away your digital devices and look up and smell the roses. Especially if we are on digital devices throughout our workday, it is important to place some boundaries around the time we spent on it.
Learn to say ‘no’. This was huge for me. I like helping friends and family, I like working, I like being busy and productive, but not being comfortable with saying ‘no’, brought me to exhaustion. I gave more to others and more to my business than what I did to myself.
Counselling can often help us to deal with some of the emotional aspects and issues we have, which can contribute to ‘burn out’. Counselling helped me to become more aware of my needs and what ‘drove’ me to be a high achiever and what I could do to change that in my life.
Exercise. It doesn’t have to be high intensity, a walk on the beach is enough to refresh our mind, increase our endorphins and gain new perspective.
Eat well and drink lots of water. For me that meant cutting out my sweet tooth addiction. I used anything sweet to give me the energy boosts I needed to get through my days, but those energy boosts always caused me to crash very quickly after the spike. Slow released energy helps to keep us more consistent throughout our day
Get some good supports around you.

I hope this helps some of you who struggle in this fast-paced society. Remember we need to thrive and be able to last the distance and perform well and that requires good mental emotional and physical well-being.

Ruth Murray
www.healthwithwholefoods.com