Are You Burned Out?

Your body may hold the answer

Photo by THE 5TH

As I did a little research about burnout for this post, I discovered that burnout is now considered an epidemic with 89% of employees expected to experience some kind of burnout this year. I would guess that it’s even higher for business owners because of the stress of working without a regular paycheck as well as the ongoing challenge of putting boundaries around personal time. Many people who work for themselves simply don’t know when to stop. There is always more to do and improve, more that could be done.

Years ago, I taught a business training class designed to help students move out of poverty by starting a business. During the second class, I warned them that there was a great risk that they would drive themselves to work 80-hour weeks and become the worst boss they ever had.

Clearly, high numbers of people experiencing burnout is a mega sign that something is broken with our entire system of work. We simply cannot sustain the level of stress required to maintain our lifestyle, especially since the cost of living has skyrocketed.

Something’s got to give, and soon.

What worked in the past is no longer working. We need shorter workweeks, enough income to pay for the basics as well as lots of downtime to rest and restore ourselves. Pushing beyond what our bodies, energy and emotions can handle costs us dearly—typically in the form of an illness that forces us to stop.

The body will eventually say “no” even if we want to say “yes”.

What’s interesting to me is regularly hearing podcasts in which healing practitioners, shamans, spiritual teachers, mediums and intuitive counselors are talking about their own personal burnout. You’d think because the work they do involves guiding others that they might know better. However, speaking from experience, I can honestly say that it’s pretty easy to overdo it with work that you’re passionate about. In addition, it takes a lot of energy to be present when you work at a deep level and hold space for others’ well being on a regular basis.

Creative business owners often suffer the same fate. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs who make their money as artists launch huge projects, open fancy art studios, sell dozens of products, run workshops and so on. Then, before long, they’re complaining about overwork and burnout. This often inspires them to downsize from many employees back to one or two or even working solo again and abandon their fancy studios and move their creative work back into their homes.

What’s the problem here?

We’ve normalized overwork, and it’s time to flip the script and, instead, normalize a life that isn’t built around work. Our bodies and souls are crying out to live more in harmony with our natural cycles and rhythms, which requires tuning more into our bodies and listening to what they need instead of overriding or pushing through those needs.

I love this quote from bestselling author, Dan Millman, “Everything you’ll ever need to know is within you; the secrets of the universe are imprinted on the cells of your body. But you haven’t learned inner vision; you don’t know how to read the body. Your only recourse has been to read books and listen to experts and hope they are right.”

And this one from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, “The body is a multilingual being.  It speaks through its color and its temperature, the flush of recognition, the glow of love, the ash of pain, the heat of arousal, the coldness of nonconviction. . . . It speaks through the leaping of the heart, the falling of the spirits, the pit at the center, and rising hope.”

The body never lies.

And, yet, most of us ignore what it tells us.

We mistakenly place more value on the knowledge that comes from outside of us than on what comes from within. In our ignorance, we are missing out on one of life’s greatest gifts—the wisdom of the body.

The body is not just a machine to keep us alive and give us sensory information about the world we live in; it is so much more than that.

In our Western culture, we have moved away from our trust in the body, in favor of the intellect, and much to our own peril, we are now cut off from its deep wisdom. 

So how do we read the body? 

How do we learn to listen to its messages?

How can we reconnect with the guidance it has to offer?

We’ve all had the experience of having a “gut” feeling or reaction to a person or place. Sometimes we heed this feeling, especially when it’s strong. Sometimes we ignore it by overriding it or dismissing it with our logical mind. However, whether we realize it or not, we all use this physical or visceral awareness to make many of our decisions in our life. Often this is done unconsciously.

To really use the body’s signals as a tool, we need to become conscious of it.

We need to listen to it.

Why?

Because the body is a barometer that measures how we’re doing.

And it doesn’t like to be ignored.

In fact, if we ignore it too long, it rebels and eventually stages a revolution, stopping at nothing until it gets our attention. We often wait until we’ve reached a point where we must pay attention.

Ideally, it would be better to listen to our body’s wisdom long before we’re in the midst of a full-blown crisis. Instead, see it as a powerful tool that can help us make healthy choices in our lives.

Another way to look at it is to ask yourself: How can I honor my body? How can I honor myself?

You see, this is about giving yourself permission to be kind and loving to yourself even it you believe you don’t have the time or space to do so.

Consider it preventative medicine.

Your body will thank you.

Your life will improve.

Burnout will disappear.

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