Bright side of BurnOut: How to fix it! (Part1)

No energy. No interest.  Snapping at loved ones.  Sleepless nights.  Being burned out is a drag. Staying burnout out isn’t cool either and it’s avoidable if you Stop-Drop-Roll-Go.

Let’s face it: All of us are affected by the economic slowdown. We take on more and take less care of ourselves, burning out in the process.  And if it isn’t us who’s doing more with less, we get a heat rash just by being near those who are!

In this 2-part series, I’ll explore four lessons to help you recognize and avoid burnout so you can perform at your best, particularly when times are tough.  Whether you’re slightly smoldering or completely ablaze, I hope these words will soothe the singe.

Remember the Trabing Road fire in Larkin Valley, June 2008?  Regardless of how it started, when a fire hits, we have a clear call to action.  We’d:

• immediately stop what we were doing
• get our families, pets, livestock out of harm’s way
• alert neighbors
• grab what things we could
• error on the side of safety and move with purpose

It’s easy to see the impact of a fire – the visible landscape changes. Houses and trees are leveled to ash, green fields are blackened.  It’s not so easy to see the impact on the invisible landscape, the one inside us.  Our once unquestioned sense of security and well-being can be leveled, we can feel vulnerable and out of control.  We can become a mere shadow of our former self.

Truth be told, it’s often easier to erect a new home than to rebuild our invisible landscape. In my view, it’s the invisible stuff we need to rebuild just as vigorously as we do houses.  It’s the health and vitality of our invisible landscape that makes the difference in our capacity to perform at our best.

Now, how to fix burnout.

Remember what the fire fighters taught us when we were in elementary school: Stop-Drop-Roll. I’m going to take those 3 lessons and add 1 more: Go.

Here’s how to use Stop-Drop-Roll-Go to reclaim your inner landscape if it’s charred by being burnout.

# 1: Stop. Stop long enough (5 minutes per day) to answer the question:  Am I smoldering?  Am I ignoring the early warning signs from my body, my intuition and my friends?

If the answer is No, I’m not smoldering – acknowledge yourself for the check-in and for your wellbeing.  If the answer is Yes, then find the specific flame (a resentment, disappointment or unfulfilled expectation) that is smoldering.  Ask:  When did I start smoldering? What happened?

#2: Drop.  Drop into yourself to know what you uniquely need to recover and reclaim.

Ask:  Have I lost my voice and stopped speaking my truth?  Have I disregarded my values?  Have I disconnected from my purpose?

Sometimes it’s easier to answer these questions if someone we trust asks them of us. If that’s your case, then find that person and ask them to ask you these questions. Don’t let your ego or “I’ve got it together” persona get in the way. You are too valuable a resource!  We need you naturally turned-on, fully engaged, not turned-off, burned-out!  Heck, forget the “we”, how about: you need yourself turned on and engaged!

While a fire can be a “natural disaster”, there’s nothing natural about burning ourselves out.  I’m advocating an attitude adjustment:  Being burned-out doesn’t serve anyone.  Being tuned-in serves everyone, including me.

The bright side of burn out is: The better you tune-in to yourself and what burns you out, the sooner you’ll see your early warning signs, your personal smoke.  And where there’s smoke …

Next month, Part 2 will cover lessons 3 & 4: Roll-Go.