Burnout Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

3 Transformative Work Life Blend Advice Tips

Work life blend includes self-care time taking walks. — Appreciating the changing seasons!

Work life balance can exist. Work life blend is the new norm that comforts because all the boxes aren’t checked with our limited 24 hours a day and we still keep our healthy ways in check.

This article is all about optimizing your busy seasons for your work life balance benefit.

There are definitely seasons when you’re soooo busy and don’t think as clearly as when you’re well rested. It’s hard to be in the moment when you’re on go-go-go mode. Each moment goes by fast and awareness is missed. Focus is instead on task at hand.

And that’s how my life was when I worked in hospitality event planning, and especially holiday seasons when I started work at 9 am and ended around midnight. Co-workers would ask me why I was sending emails at 4 am! And then to start the schedule all over again the next day.

…For a season that’s sustainable, but not year-round.

You probably can relate with some of your endless cycle roles whether it’s as a corporate worker, doing a side hustle, or running a household. That’s all work.

Working 15 hour days means 9 hours is left for sleep and meals. Self-care part of life can end up as a nice-to-have. So can sleep that should be a non-negotiable. But sometimes is a luxury too!

And having little work-life blend becomes depleted energy that affects balance in feeling-thinking moods.

That lifestyle is not sustainable for a healthy or happy lifestyle. And can lead to stress and burnout. But again, okay for living out a season or two as part of life.

…And so is taking an intentional break.

When you’re no longer in a busy season and have rested up, you can find that you have too much free time on your hands. You have more Life than work-life blend, but that life isn’t healthy sustainable either for long periods.

It’s not good to just pass time without purpose that is known to shorten life span.

Time is a balancing act. But it doesn’t need to be a juggle where balls fall and that feels defeating.

You can ease in gracefully and look forward to the changing seasons…

Like, a simple change in work status, family status, or kids growing up can instantly stir up the season in busy or slow down.

But most of us in prime years are in busy seasons or busy from choices we’ve made.

And in the busy work shuffle, juggling free time around family, friends, or fitness can get pushed out (instead of doing push ups). Something has to give in work-life blend (formerly work life balance).

So here are 3 pieces of advice I have for (transforming) better work-life blend.

1.One good way is to END THE BUSY jam-packed schedule.

Simply stop adding one more activity on the agenda. Pause the activity habit stacking. So often, we’ve finished one activity, and the next question is: what’s next?

That doesn’t have to be your automatic way and what may give you the idea that having work-life balance is non-existent… somehow this has become the modern way, giving life balance a bad wrap (because slow down is a dream way off in the distant future)! And thinking all we can do today is work-life blend when we’re missing what’s important to us: our priorities.

In America, we’re in an instant gratification culture, where we’ve also delayed our health and happiness to retirement. That’s a bit backwards. Especially if you ask cultures that have less or choose to live slower paced throughout their lives.

But you can choose what you want. You make your life what it is based on each choice.

Even in your busiest seasons, you can prioritize what you want to achieve, such as spending an hour a day in family activity, meeting for lunch with friends, and spending an hour doing home exercise saving travel time.

Take that same 3-4 hours that instead can easily be spent mindlessly watching television (where the average is 4 hours per day for Americans). That’s to make up for all the busy, depleted energy spent during the day.

Being a night couch potato is the relaxing fix to get some exhausted energy back from the busy cycle we’re on instead of pacing ourselves.

It’s not a healthy, sustainable way to live. And doesn’t guarantee that we’ll be happier today or tomorrow.

So, if you’re on a mission to find more time and balance, one way is taking inventory of the busy that’s not making you happy in your life, and then change up doing those activities that can be as simple as a grinding halt stop.

2. Instead of taking free time to grumble on why we’re not as happy as we can be, we just decide to change up our lives.

…If work is what’s taking up the bulk of your time, then figuring out how you can make a change within 3 months is going to be your best bet.

You don’t want one season to turn into the next.

If the load is too much, reach out for help. Find ways to free up your time so you’re not mired down with the busy and can carve out free time, and also free up headspace time so you can enjoy this moment and be in the moment.

Some ways: delegate at work, ask spouses and loved ones for help, and set expectations.

Often, we add burden on our lives when we could’ve more simply repositioned how we answered or responded differently, so the responsibility isn’t solely ours.

3. Knowing your priorities FIRST, gives you better outcomes. You don’t end up saying yes to everything. You have a direction.

Because every activity you say “yes” to creates your busy life and lack of work-life blend. And if you want time balance back, be mindful and keep track of how often you say “yes” and “no.” Many ideas sound good at the time said or you don’t want to disappoint others, but then you’re compromising and not living your best life you’re called to live.

**And your ways become your habits.**

Finally, if you want good change, be ready to let go.

When you stop clinging to ideas, control, and how things will turn out, something amazing and good things happens. You give yourself the chance to get free from negative emotions about specific situations. And when you let in good energy, that attracts abundance beyond what you or I could’ve come up with.

Have a healthy and balanced week! 🧡

Shavasana Corpse Pose + Healthy Fall Chocolate Cake Surprise

chocolate bundt cake suprise — This gooey chocolate bundt cake has a surprise chocolate center that marbles out into the cake. The reason for the seasonal fall pomegranate rubies!

Shavasana is a great way to reset new intentions for the rest of this year, so you can enter your new year with a bang! 🎉 I share my thoughts below…

And today’s fall daylight savings (happy fall back hour!) preps us for additional rest. Now is a good time to rest up, store up the acorns 🐿 and spices for the winter holiday weeks.

Or make warm soup and spice blends if you have oposable thumbs… like I did with this healthy plant-based potato based black bean soup with tofu and 15 spices (that’s good for us and the planet).

15-spices for Thanksgiving rub and soup — 15 spices in soup listed in photo link 🔗

As part of the weekly R&R, I made a mini bite-size chocolate cake. This one has a gooey dark chocolate middle in a chocolate cake made from cocoa, peanut butter (that’s always a good flavor), and seasonal pomegranates.

While making this, I’m reminded how often we stand stationary with some kind of tool in front of us, whether it’s a standing desk computer or a kitchen tool like a mixer.

And to mix it up, it’s a good idea to lay flat back and consciously awake on a mat, that’s different than reclining or napping in a recliner. Remember when you saw those often in older homes?

Take a few extra minutes to not rush around. Those moments are enhanced when there’s no distraction like a computer or a television.

Laying down, you’re looking at the ceiling or sky above you. This is actually a productive yoga pose.

You would’ve done this in a Hatha or more relaxed yoga class. It’s called Shavasana. And maybe even the teacher came around with a lavender spray to get you in the mood of laying still and quieting the mind.

Laying stretched out without moving on a mat anywhere helps melt the stress away into the floor. And gives you a few moments of peace to get your second wind and ground you for the rest of the day.

Your blood pressure and heartbeat slow down. And this healthy mind-body cycle reset can help bring many more healthy new years. 🗓

Keep in mind, you are not your body. And your body is on a different clock than you are… with a different ticker than what’s on your agenda or to-do’s. So it’s good to remind yourself to slow it down.

Besides sleeping at night, daytime Shavasana lets your body rest from overdrive ❤️‍🔥 You give your systems a midday break, so any one of them doesn’t break one day.

There are more heart attacks in the winter than in the happy-go-lucky summer, so now durng this season is a good time to try out the Shavasana pose habit. Try to fit it in, in between your daily activities or from morning to afternoon activities

And with a short rest break, your mind has a chance to reset.

When you’re in an activity for a little while, when that first negative or worry thought enters or you stop thinking productively, that’s when it’s good to take an adult timeout and get into your Shavasana or Corpse pose.

And of course, keep your phone off your mat! 😉

We learned that from the post-dot com eras in the early 2000s when it was common that adult Americans worked over 50 hours per week, rarely took a vacation, and slept less, burning the candle on both ends to get more done. That often led to burnout.

Back then in the corporate world that I was in, that was called Life. And why work and life needed a balance.

And today we know when we get enough sleep, we feel better and are more productive the next day.

Shavasana (aka resting pose) practiced awake didn’t come into daily society until at least a decade later. It’s different than napping where you could be curled up.

I once practiced Shavasana on a mat on a cold catering office floor. And the warmest time was on the beach sand catching some rays before the pose had a name 😉. You too?

…What are your interesting resting pose memories?

These are good reset reminders for our busy lives where we forget to slow down often. It’s not an automatic response.

It’s like when our phone needs to be reset but we don’t automatically choose that option. We’d rather wonder why our phone is slow and we keep trying the same task over and over, instead of rebooting, saving us minutes and frustration.

And while we’re there, maybe we just keep it off for a few minutes and remind ourselves how our society and some of us used to live without our devices that I’d add: today have become more important to us than our keys.

We often use our phones more than our minds. Shavasana can help bring back some of those mindful minutes.

And we can take a few gratitude moments and appreciate what we have and the era we’re in…

These days vs. 2020 and in real life (vs, digital life), we’ve gotten better at doing what matters to us and less with just mindlessly following the pack.

We have more opportunities to change and choose different paths. And in my opinion, our society is less competitive and more collaborative as a whole. We need it for our world!

And these days we’re challenged to adapt quicker. Trends are made in milliseconds and then forgotten the next day whether we like it or not.

Metrics aren’t what they used to be. But despite these changes and life disruptors, one thing hasn’t changed… we still get to make choices.

And slowing down our tempo gives us advantages so we can keep up.

We can make better lifestyle choices to live longer, happy quality lives. That’s a good optimal goal to set out for.

And with that thought, I’ll leave you with two questions to think about:

At this point, what would make your year optimal? Idea: you can make an appointment with yourself in Shavasana to think about this.

And, what would help you to make your next year brighter? Think of what change or improvements in you would make things different and better.

Oh, and finally… if there is a topic you’d like me to cover more of, or a category on the right column of this blog that you would like to see more posts about, send me a message… I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Your Mindfulness Is A Better Way to Handle Anxious Situations

Good morning breathing mindfulness reminders ☀️

These days, we’re open to expressing our burnout feelings. And that’s a healthy restoring move. But the cure to anxious situations and moods is in your mindfulness.

We all know what mindfulness means… being present in this moment.

But do we practice often?…

Usually not, unless we’re in an engaging activity we’re all into.

Mindfulness isn’t the natural path. Our minds tend to naturally wander to dreaming about the future and drift back to worries from the past even if that was earlier the same day.

Mindfulness is an open-door opportunity in every moment. It’s less exciting and also less dramatic.

It’s where your peace is at, in any moment.

If you’re solving a problem, you’re finding a way to have peace of mind, and that’s what satisfies your mind, your loudest critic.

In mindful peaceful moments, you can be the heroine in your life, and the solution to rising above your situations…

So below, I share some tips and lessons learned on how to connect the dots to this valuable life skill of getting mind freedom.

If you already know how to stay in constant mindfulness, kudos to you because you’re far and ahead of the pack. It takes work in a noisy world, but it gets easier when you know what to do and look for…

And if you can break through the noise and find your mindfulness, that can help unleash bottled-up inside thoughts and emotions that cause unhealthy stress.

That describes me in my early 20’s when I suffered a panic attack at work.

…That was the symptom. But, the deeper message was I had a lot to learn and process with emotional trauma buildup from those earlier adult years and childhood.

All that kept me playing small, stuck in life, and stunted my growth in fulfilling my identity potential, even though everything looked fine on paper.

And that kept thoughts and feelings pushed down so they couldn’t ripen (and I couldn’t bloom) sooner. When those thought-feelings re-surfaced, they disappeared when ignored in life’s busyness.

But then would rear its ugly head again later on down the road in the unconscious mind that caused inner strife, and was the lens I looked out from to make small decisions.

The better way all along would have been to process and purge the emotional thoughts at the moment in time it happened (or asap), so that healthy information was recorded as plain as black-and-white, and not left in the dangerous gray zone.

That sounds obvious when pointed out, but we don’t usually process difficult and subtle situations right away. Delaying is a missed opportunity.

Instead, we process and make choices that are easy and light for us, like what to eat and what to do later in the day.

But in life’s design, we don’t get to choose everything, good or bad, that happens to us in our day.

We do get to choose how we react. And if we healed the damage done by some situations better and quicker, our lives would be better off and we wouldn’t carry around invisible baggage that shows up later.

…Like, if we brush off feeling anxious energy as a natural body reaction, that can interrupt the entire day. That’s a message we shouldn’t ignore.

With anxiety, the body is alerting you that the mind has detected a threat based on a harmful situation or one that is deemed as “dangerous” based on context and past experiences you’ve had.

Your mind sends panic signals to your body that are very similar whether you’re being chased by a bear or in a non-life threatening verbal attack made by a person. Attack is attack.

And another person’s attack can be even worse to a mind if it’s personal. Because then the receiver has to deal with all the emotional thought drama that the ego loves to spin. At least with a bear you know it’s innocent. 🧸

And either way, if anxiety is something you feel often, then this might help get your body calm and relaxed quicker…

When the body alarm bells have gone off, a list of restoring drills can be performed, like drinking a lot of water.

…And 4-7-8 breathing to reset a calm mind and heart. And while calming the body, changing negative and fearful thoughts (where the anxiety started) helps restore the mind-body fastest.

And this is where most people stop… once they’ve gotten out of the woods and the bear out of the picture, they forget to practice changing their thought process as part of the drills so that next time they can shorten the anxiety episodes and restore in minutes (vs. not easily recovering).

You can do yourself a favor with a reminder prompt like: “I don’t have time for that!”

And that gets you to do better the next time. Quoting the late Maya Angelou, “when you know better, you do better.” But if I take a page from my young history book, I didn’t know better…

I stayed inside my mind drama for so long, like most do until they learn a better way. Then I woke up one day from years of unaware less-than thinking that I didn’t recognize as misery being a prisoner in the mind at the time. …Not knowing there’s a much better way than misery existence! 😉

…And that’s the higher way of living and thriving. It’s not choosing fruit from fallen apples on the ground. It’s growing orchards that you and others enjoy for years to come.

Until you know and experience a higher way, you can stay in a fuzzy caterpillar existence. And then when you’re ready, you can be a uniquely patterned butterfly fluttering around in the air tasting honey… and being useful to the world by visiting all the colorful flowers.

With new higher perspectives comes a new mind-body and a new identity.

So with a new thought life, you can have a much better life.

But how you will stay that way is in maintenance, practice, and creating habits that help you to refer back to mindfulness.

Why Mindfulness Works As a Better Way:

Mindfulness bypasses fears.

Because in mindfulness, you let go of fears that are rooted in the future (aka worry), and you stop losing time thinking of sad memories from the past.

Hanging on is ego’s trick. And in design, will keep playing with you until you disengage or can snap out quicker in mindfulness.

In lessons learned, dodging daily ego-mind tricks is like passing a grade and earning a butterfly wing.

And, using daily mindfulness skills is like graduating with both wings intact because then you have the practical mindful way to dodge the ego.

I think it’s sad we learn all these useless things in our school years that 99% of our life will never use, and the daily life-giving skills we need, are never taught! …Or work we don’t enjoy and will never do again as part of our life’s process of moving us along.

Thankfully with mindfulness, you don’t have to revisit any of those places again, or even feel pain.

Because in this moment, you’re fine… you’re breathing… and well, you’re more than fine. You’re growing, and feeling neutral at worst and joyful at best.

That’s something to be happy and satisfied about.

And when you focus on what this moment has to offer, and not the future that hasn’t happened or the past where ego lives, life is pretty darn good.

Numbing pain is the opposite and only delays pain. Time doesn’t heal, but changes can heal over time.

In delaying hurts, the thoughts resurface like described in my example above. And you want them to, so you can change and re-write them, and practice the new script that helps you evolve.

…And maybe can even laugh now at how far you’ve come. That’s a joy worth recording.

…Or maybe you help others who have the same struggles you once did. In mindfulness, your attention changes as you can be present and focused on what others are going through and what they’re saying to you.

That’s what getting on the other side can do.

And finally, your mindfulness breeds productivity since you have freed up headspace from noisy thoughts.

So if that’s something of interest, here’s how to build up your mindfulness skills…

Building Up Your Mindfulness Skill

Imagine stepping out of your body and observing the entering thoughts from an outsider’s perspective. The person you see in the mirror is someone different than what’s coming out of the mind.

And while that can sound complicated (an outer body experience?), awareness produces great results… and dare I add role models too!

Mindfulness is hyper-focus and can be the cure to any A.D.D. labels.

Like most skills, it can be learned with regular practice and habit.

If it’s one you want to build, you can proactively think of a weaker area you want to improve today that you can apply mindfulness to.

By choosing a weaker area, you’ll see a larger difference in your progress vs. marginally improving a skill you already know.

This can be for work or personal areas where unpredictable situations arise weekly. You could write down right now a few practical areas where you can apply this so you don’t forget. Then start practicing mindfulness in that area.

And in making progress, you get to pat yourself on the back and you never know, you could turn your weakness into a new interest.

…and that could be a byproduct game-changer for you this season (in addition to mindfulness mind freedom)!

That’s the high note I wanted to leave you at… and hopefully, this helps you or someone you know (and wasn’t too much like heavy pillow talk 😊). Brain health talk gets my wheels turning.

Next time I’ll bring my energy to a lighter body health diet topic, as it’s hot on many minds.

Talk to you again soon! 🧡

Living Healthy, Happy Body-Mind Balanced This Season

body-mind balanced

Balance is the best way to live a life worth living. When you reset to your calm and whole equilibrium essence, you find your life meaning, purpose, and happiness now and in this season.

If you live every day busy and stressed, even if it’s doing the thing that overall lights you up and gives you purpose, like owning your own business or being the CEO in your household, you can still feel burnout.

If you don’t develop a strong WHY for what you’re doing, then you can gradually feel unhappy because you can be missing the meaning piece.

If you were a rose flower, even during blooming season, your intact delicate petals could become brittle, and fall off under wind blowing conditions. But if you knew your purpose was to be naturally beautiful, fragrant, healthy, and alive, and that your inner beauty helps to spreads love to your community and the world, then you would be able to embrace chaos and changing environmental situations.

You get your raison d’etre (reason of being) when seeking meaning and purpose this season that requires your focus, mindful space, and deeper thought.

If you are body-mind balanced, then you can tune in more acutely because when you’re healthy, you can do infinitely all that you’re capable and willing to do. A healthy body-mind provides the starting foundation for your inner wisdom to grow.

To be healthy, it’s important to find time to soak in what your body is conveying to you in each season of your unique life and take time to nourish your naturally resilient but unique body. The only one you will get and can transform if you wish. A simple daily task of moisturizing your dry skin (the largest organ in your body) can be a healthy body-mind exercise.

You could stop to smell the roses daily and really sense all its pretty features like bright and pastel colors… subtle rose scents (great for a judgmental mind)… soft and silky smooth texture …and balanced intricate design. In those mindful moments, you can connect with yourself, and realize how you can make an impact in your life and others this season of life… Time you will never get back. Losing time can be a motivator (Your Why) as it has been for me.

Before I had conscious body-mind balanced wisdom, I wasn’t fully aware I had falling rose petals. I may have noticed random petals, and brushed that off as nothing. And had I been more in tune back then, I could have adapted and thrived better to my seasonal situations.

And I would’ve reached faster my higher frequency living over survival mode faster in a modern society rat-race work life. You can miss out on fulfilling years of finding your whole self that way.

Looking back, I went through the motions. In the season when I had a Kapha imbalance, I couldn’t get myself up at an hour earlier than I desired and accumulated more than one, of any one thing. When I had a Pitta imbalance, I noticed acne in new spots and was more critical than usual. When I had a Vata imbalance, I was more forgetful and would dart from task to task. Multitasking BTW is the epitome of a lack of mindfulness.

To respect and take care of your body, you can have inconsistent symptoms, such as accumulating body weight, feeling impatient or withdrawn, or being slower than usual.. and so much more! You see, those are all symptom examples that show up with specific imbalances.

When I learned how to restore my gradually stored up appearing imbalances, then I had a new framework and perspective for tackling all that I wanted to do in a loving way and productively. And more importantly, being the person I wanted to be (…and you can also!).

You could be fully aligned with the creative flow (even if you think you’re not creative or in this season) and have clarity and laser focus (and be unstoppable, and not starting and stopping).

You can be your super productive self while still enjoying the uneventful days of this season. And carving out time to create great memories (that’s always a good reason… and, did I mention I’m a photo scrapbooker? Are there any Creative Memories people still out there? 😊)

Finding unique, joyful activities you love can help to prevent burnout. And proactively learning how to naturally restore your body-mind balanced self is how you can start to be the healthiest self (and the best rose in your life).

Each year can be your best year because you make the most out of it and see how what you did brought you to where you are.

Let me encourage you today… you can wake up to every day feeling better than the day before if you proactively look for how to intervene and get those wholesome perspectives. If yesterday wasn’t the best, you have a low bar to surpass today. If yesterday was great (hopefully it was) then today you can follow in those footsteps, and also keep trying new things. You keep going and growing.

As busy humans, we have complex lives. One day, we can be pivoting, and the next day looking for more happiness in our lives while handling the necessary tasks in the here and now. Some of our specific situations can sometimes leave us feeling…well, tired, anxious, and worried, or annoyed and irritated. If you feel any of these symptoms, you can do something about it. You can find out what your body imbalance type is in this season and make positive, restorative changes. Getting aware helps your body-mind balanced life.

Your imbalances can change from season to season and can show up in many ways. But, the body keeps memory and score.

As part of this season, I hope (and challenge you if that’s what you need!) that you will take time to find your specific purpose, meaning, and some extra balanced, self-care time out.

Here’s what I mean… Continue reading “Living Healthy, Happy Body-Mind Balanced This Season”

From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life

sabbatical rainbow

Retirement financial guru David Bach is known for “The Latte Factor” on how to save money. Maybe you saw him on Oprah as I did back in the day?

Fast forward years later, he went from burnout to sabbatical living. In hindsight, he now calls a sabbatical “the magic pill” to happiness.

He mentioned in interviews that it all began when his wife asked him what he wanted for one of his birthdays, and he expressed a desire for full-time off from work.

And so that’s just what he did, although he still had to convince himself to get off his busy work train.

Taking time off in a restful sabbatical isn’t a common practice for Americans. There aren’t too many role models to follow. Retirement after 60 and beyond is still the American norm.

Like David Bach, more go-getters in the prime of their career are opening up to this approach to a healthier lifestyle to recharge somewhere in the middle, make life impact changes, and gain clarity about their remaining life’s path.

We all want to live our Best Life, but not all of us do what we need to fully live because we’re not given a road map so we end up playing it safe… staying in the same career or corporate work path with golden handcuffs and benefits, despite being miserable.

Future uncertainty can be uncomfortable to those who want their lives fully planned out, but as I (and you too probably at least in this past year) experienced, life throws monkey wrenches in the mix if you’ve been around long enough, and you can question what this life is really all about.

…and maybe you’ve had those types of questions swirling in your mind lately that you’ve been wrestling with?

If so, you should consider taking a sabbatical if you’re in a place where you can or you all of a sudden, find that you deeply need one to restore your mind-body. It’s not a cop-out, it’s a smart move in case you need to wrestle the idea with the logical side of your mind.

The trend is moving this way. Kids who are just becoming adults are acceptably taking gap years from college. And if you worked in corporate in 2008 with the economy dip, you most likely made a work change, maybe entered a different industry as in 2020 and the aftermath, where we all had our work changed and life turned upside down.

Someone wise ahead of me ingrained this idea that never left me: “Your entire life is a transition.”

So then with that lens, I’m happily entering my fourth act. And depending on your age, you’re probably at least entering or considering your second one (along with almost half the women in the workforce according to survey data).

When I was in college, and it took me 5 years to graduate, that was a big deal in my mind. I questioned why I took a year off after a few semesters of working and attending business school full-time.

During my gap year that wasn’t the usual way, I stopped and learned how to create a business (the reason that you would think you go to business school but most like I did, graduated and entered the corporate workforce).

What I wanted most that I didn’t want to admit to anyone including myself was I wanted deep rest. And that semester off test-taking I got off sleeping aid pills. I got off the hamster wheel and avoided burning out.

Back then, I was already creating a different way of life of taking breaks because my body was calling for it. And now in more aware times, my mind was too.

Similarly, a mid-life sabbatical idea is a pretty darn good idea for recuperating. It can be a lifeline even though it still has a bad wrap. If you’re a well-known author and speaker like David Bach, you can do it because you’ve earned it. But if you’re like most of us or the person trying to make ends meet, then you’re still justifying, like I had to.

I had to lean in and switch into abundant thinking and what I would gain over what I would lose.

And when the call inside you grows louder, the idea can grow more intriguing, and that’s when you know you have to seriously investigate!

You may just need some little sign or nudge to get you to take the step. Or you may just need the right timing or feeling to show up again. In my case, I knew I had more to lose if I didn’t.

You are where you are because of your choices made.

And because of my sabbatical choice, I wouldn’t have traveled to so many great places and countries before 2020. And I wouldn’t have discovered my real passions and purposeful direction in this life that isn’t the corporate path I started on.

I’m not suggesting that’s what you have to do or to be irresponsible. I would never say that as I believe in accountability and personal responsibility. I’m super practical. I’m also led by what I feel is happening in my mind-body-spirit. You get to discern and decide if that’s what is right for you.

From my sabbatical journey, I can tell you, if you follow your internal loving (and not fearful) guides, you won’t be led wrong. Any short-term losses you think you may take, you will gain so much more for your life. Because you’ll pivot into something greater that you would not have uncovered without taking the time off. Your perspective will change and you’ll want to re-strategize your life.

Plus you’ll have all the great memories that you can relive for more years than starting in retirement. (I love looking at sabbatical photos and reminiscing about my vacation and time-off).

But besides good memories, you will gain productivity from resting. You won’t know the individual rewards you’ll gain until you take the bold leap.

When should you do it?

I think I described it above, but the short answer I would give is: when you can. You’ll know when you can’t!

Especially if you’re burned out from your job, have life overwhelm, life underwhelm, considering a career switch, or get laid off, now may be a great time (to eliminate life in burnout to sabbatical living that you didn’t choose on purpose… that can leave you de-motivated instead of feeling excited and energized).

Or maybe you have a deepening desire to explore something new in life and that is winning over any fears you have for taking a risky and unknown bold step towards your future, despite questions from loved ones you may receive.

One other word of nudging encouragement to take the proactive bold step… free yourself from feeling like you have to please others (or be a martyr to do it for others). Your life and mental health are at risk, and if you lose yourself in the process, then you have nothing to give.

A mid-life crisis is a real phenomenon that still exists and can come falling like a ton of bricks. It often sadly ends with regrets and not the way it started.

I didn’t experience that (and maybe that’s because I took a sabbatical) but I’ve seen it in others’ lives and maybe you have or will too.

Sometimes it’s just easier when things happen to you that are out of your control, so you can more easily explain your decisions. You lose a job. You get a divorce or another loss happens.

You can find your lost soul, your higher spirit, or a new mission on a sabbatical.

Personally, I love that the sabbatical idea is catching on in our work-addicted society, especially after a shocking 2020 year where we all had to rethink and redo old ways.

Maybe now is a good time for you and you’re looking for encouraging supporters to take a sabbatical. And maybe I’ve piqued your interest, then you’ll want to keep reading as I share more from my memoir and ideas that can help you… Continue reading “From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life”