Have you experienced burnout?

What exactly is burnout in regards to health?  There are a lot of different definitions when it comes to burnout in regards to health.  A lot of the time we will more commonly think of people with Adrenal Fatigue and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  But, Burnout starts much before these conditions take place.  My definition of burnout is when you are burning the candle at both ends, you are doing everything for everyone and forgetting to look after yourself or to take time out for yourself or some selfcare.  As a result, you get sick, it might start with a cold, or several consecutive colds that take longer and longer to get over.  Then, you may experience some gut issues, maybe a bit of bloating, trapped wind, diarrhoea, etc. or some anxiety, anxiety over getting sick again or missing more work. From here exhaustion will then come into play, it may start with just needing an extra sleep in every day and you may feel like you need an afternoon siesta, so you start to drink more coffee! This coffee then makes it harder to get to sleep at night, so you go to bed later and start to sleep in longer and rush to get to work on time and the domino effect just keeps going and going.

For me, this week I’ve experienced burnout. You would think as a Naturopath, that I would know better and see the signs of burn out and prevent them, but no! I make mistakes as well! The last 2 months we have had a lot of changes in our life here, my parents have moved in and I’ve been working more but still the primary caretaker of our toddler. Since May I’ve had 2 colds, the first one took me over 4 weeks to get over and was two weeks ago.  I had been on a role in my business, showing up on my socials, taking on new clients and we’ve commenced the Compleat Gut Program 2 weeks ago, I was absolutely killing it! But man was I tired! I was so focused on focusing all of my spare energy and free time while my toddler slept, on my business, that I actually forgot to look after myself! And yes! There were signs, lots of signs. I started sleeping as long as she did during the day out of exhaustion, when previously this was when I would eat lunch or work on the business, I also started skipping meals ago, especially breakfast! I before Wednesday this week, I actually can’t tell you the last time I sat down to a proper breakfast on a weekday! There was no way my body was going to survive if I didn’t actually fuel it.  The worse part is, it actually took me until Wednesday this week to see that I was in burnout! I was literally burning the candle at both ends and I didn’t realise.

So how do you overcome burnout?

For me, the first step was recognising it and then taking action.  I started by having breakfast again, although I did skip this morning, consistency is key! This morning, however, I did do a meditation which I have been meaning and also craving/wanting/needing to do for the last week, do today was the day. And now I’m back on my vitamins and some nourishing adrenal herbs, having malabsorption issues still (yes, still! Even after 6 solid years of working on my gut health) means that I need to supplement vitamins, my toddler also Breastfeeds, which means that she takes a lot of my nutrient stores so it is completely essential for me to stay healthy so my body has some to keep for itself. I’m prioritising my time again between life, raising my toddler and my business and finally, I’ve soaking in some delicious vitamin D with sun therapy.  But, most importantly, take time out for YOU!