Burnout-Free Lifestyle | The Burnout Queens

Fed Up & Highly Sensitive to ‘Too’ Phrases

November 24, 2015

Here are some of the Top 14 ‘You’re Too’ phrases Highly Sensitive People hear! We know they drive you crazy, but you’ve been told you’re crazy all you life anyway, right?

‘too’ emotional – ‘too’ shy – ‘too’ intense – ‘too’ serious – ‘too’ moody – ‘too’ neurotic – ‘too’ idealistic – ‘too’ dramatic and oh yeah, let’s not forget the obvious…

You’re Just Too Sensitive!

Of course you’ve heard these all your life. They don’t make you crazy, they just mean you are a highly sensitive person.

At the Burnout Queens we celebrate being Highly Sensitive. We both are and we are NO shrinking violets! Being an HSP means you are strong, bold, creative, quirky, and much more. You have a character that needs to be embraced. Find out what it really means to be highly sensitive and how it affects everything from your identity to your relationships to your career choices: The Burnout Queens, Highly Sensitive

The #1 feedback on this page is…”Thank you, now I know I wasn’t crazy all my life!” Nectar to our ears!

With love, The Burnout Queens xx

Telegraph story on Highly Sensitive People

November 11, 2015

Here’s a great article from the Telegraph on what it means to be a Highly Sensitive Person. At the bottom of the article (at the moment I read it) 2.6 million people had already ‘liked it’.

Click here to read: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/health-advice/highly-sensitive-people

Goodness, the 20% of HSP’s in the population (just in the US) make up a rather large and might I say, creative group.

Never underestimate the power of ‘not so loud’ people in your midst. We have an important role to play in business, interpersonal relationships and families.

Love, The Burnout Queens (two highly sensitive women and proud to be born as such) xx

PS: Don’t be shy! Leave us your comments if you think you are highly sensitive and how it has formed your opinion of yourself.

Outsmarting a Wet Umbrella, HSP Style

November 10, 2015

This HSP woman has had enough.

Have you ever been caught out in the rain and then had to stuff your dripping umbrella into your bag before going inside? Yeah, you know what happens after that don’t you? Everything inside that gorgeous tote gets soaked, soggy, damp and ugly to touch.

Well, I know an HSP woman who solved this dilemma in style. With this simple and really inexpensive trick she no longer leaves her umbrella at the shop door (to get taken) or drops it under her seat to soak the floor. No this savvy HSP stylist on a recent shopping trip found this brilliant solution. (I would never have thought of this)

This is actually a waterproof bottle holder bought at a kitchen shop for less than £1. Cut off the long strap (or leave it on for style) and it’s set to go. Cue the rain (which isn’t hard at this time of year). Now when that darn umbrella gets sopping wet, she puts it inside the waterproof pouch, locks it shut and puts the whole thing in her tote. When she gets back to the flat out it all comes and the inside of the tote is dry and preserved (no more pool of water at the bottom of the bag, no more diary unreadable, no more fried mobile). The added bonus is neon colours are easily seen inside the big bag so it’s super easy to find it.

Give it a whirl. It works. Thanks Dr T (our stylish HSP)

5 Signs of Exhaustion Creep & How to Regain Your Groove

November 6, 2015

5 Signs of Exhaustion Creep & How to Get Your Groove Back!

Typically when autumn and winter arrive, I never like waking up, going to work, and returning home in the dark. I feel like a mole and I miss my summer shadows. I think most people (and especially women) feel more tired and we are all more susceptible to flus, colds and achy everything.

Well, I’ve decided to dub this feeling ‘exhaustion creep’.

Here are 5 recognisable signs that the ‘e-creep’ is with you (of course there are many more):

You yawn way more often
You can’t focus very long because you just want to have a nap
You can’t get or stay asleep, making you a grumpy sheep counting expert
You feel dull and achy in your body and joints
You skip the exercise regime because…(fill in favourite excuse)

Sound familiar? These are all pretty recognisable signs, but as ‘be-all-and-do-all-women’ we still have to keep going don’t we! We just don’t have time for ‘exhaustion creep’. So we push through, the exhaustion increases and end up feeling sluggish and low in energy.

Well good news, here’s how to regain your groove:

Eat meals on time (breakfast, lunch & dinner please)
Stretch your body (she’ll thank you for it)
Take a quiet walk (crunch of leaves underfoot can be therapeutic)
Deep breathe on purpose for 5 minutes (in to 4-hold to 4- out to 8)
Drink water to hydrate (coffee & tea while hot, are dehydrating)

Simple everyday ways to keep your groove intact because You are a Burnout Queen!

Love, Dr T & Dr B xx

How ‘Strictly’ and ‘Dancing’ Enhances Your Greatness!

October 8, 2015

Have you seen the celebrity show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (or the American ‘Dancing With the Stars’)? It pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers for the ultimate competition for the glitter ball and the best celebrity dancer. It think it’s one reality show that can inspire you to tap (get the pun) into the greatness of you!

Okay, I am NOT one for reality shows. I have not watched one season of the Apprentice with ‘the Donald’ or Lord Sugar, nor the Amazing Race, and never any Survivor series. You can imagine my surprise when I found myself deeply entrenched watching all the episodes of Strictly Come Dancing (and before that Dancing With The Stars). Of course my analytic brain wondered why…

could it be because I danced as a young child, teenager and was entered into dance competitions myself (and won I might add!)
was it my mesmerization with sparkly costumes, big hair, big makeup & high heels
was it the theme of taking a challenge and turning it into a triumph
it was all of the above and MORE

These 2 series (I can only vouch for these ones) are the perfect examples of motivation, drive and achievement. All the things our clients quest for and question us about. The perfect example, with the perfect formula…..so lace up your dancing shoes ladies, and give this formula a twirl.

Step 1 – take a risk outside your comfort zone. (Jerry Rice, all American football player turned ballroom dancer? Carol Kirkwood BBC weather person turned ballroom dancer? Master P, hiphop artist/producer turned ballroom dancer? Jake Wood, actor turned ballroom dancer? You get the picture—someone you’re not… being transformed into someone you will become…

Step 2 – learn a skill previously outside your personal proficiency to ensure legitimate challenge. Tax the brain to learn something different, harder, outside the usual brain function. In this case, weekly ballroom dances that require 6-8 hours a day of practice on top of a busy career schedule. The best brain stretch there is….

Step 3 – learn from a professional ballroom dancer (mentor, coach) who is relentless in making you work, sweat buckets, loose weight, gain muscle and a sense of your body you never had before.

Operative words…learn, fail, get frustrated, get bruised (bones and ego), fall down but learn to get back up, try it over again and master it. Discipline to mastery…

Step 4 – put these teachings to the test, whether you are fully prepared or not (the airing dates create the schedule to learn, practice and present each dance per week) The contestants did it, ready or not and learned to roll with the punches…a key component of success.

Step 5 – discover learning dancing produces a learning about yourself as a human being when faced with limitations and deadlines. Discover the strength of your body, discover the agility you can acquire, discover the ability to move in a powerfully beautiful way.

Step 6 – learn there is something inside of you you never could have imagined was part of you prior to taking on a new challenge. Capability to stretch beyond and grasp a new reality of who you can become and what you can accomplish. (set this to music!)

Step 7 – learn to overwhelmingly enjoy the process of learning again through both mistakes, pain, embarassment and triumph.

Step 8 – learn that competition with others, is always really about competing to be your very best regardless of others. (aka competition with your limitations)

Step 9 – embrace ‘practice’ as the key to perfecting your skills. The more the dancers spent practicing the same step, the more they perfected the step, perfected their posture, perfected their execution, perfected their integration, perfected the dance, perfected their performance.

I became a Dancing With the Stars junkie (when I lived in Canada and Strictly Come Dancing when I relocated to the UK) because it was exciting for me to witness the change in human spirit and the fight within each of the celebrities to care deeply about this new skill they were learning and wanting to do it better, best, perfect. The shift from just wanting the top prize to wanting to improve and perfect their abilities was addictive.

Taking it beyond the dance floor, it reminds me about risking and challenging and testing myself to uncover and discover more potential within me that until that moment of revelation I did not know I possessed. It reminds me of why I keep pushing myself, why I keep reinventing me and how absolutely exhilarating it feels to succeed at it for myself.

It is that strength once uncovered and no longer avoidable that I can take into my career realm and share with others about hopes, possibilities, discipline and perserverance. Pure transformation.

And I can see in those celebrity contestants what I have witnessed in my clients…the excitement of embracing change in themselves, to tap into that knowledge that they ‘have the right stuff’ to make something more powerful, engaging and meaningful for their lives.

So lace up those dancing shoes and set the motivation formula for mastery in motion….

risk + challenge + practice + test + discover + enjoy + compete =

the greatness of you.

Find something to reach for beyond where and who you are now. As one contestant once wisely said….”don’t just wish for it, work for it”.

Now…shall we dance…cha, cha, cha! Love The Burnout Queens xx