Living Balance

You don’t have to be a mother on Mothering Sunday

You don’t have to be a ‘mother’ to celebrate darling.

Mothering Sunday is in fact, an old religious tradition for giving young women in service a day off to be with their families at church.  It was reconfigured by the USA in the early 1900’s to celebrate nurturing of children and family.  The trouble is Mother’s Day is thought to be only for mothers and leaves many women out of the equation for a number of reasons.

However, you don’t have to be ‘a mother’ to celebrate and be celebrated.  Neither of The Burnout Queens have children, but over our careers we have nurtured hundreds (verging on thousands) of young women (and some men).

As psychotherapists and international coaches, we nurture our clients to grow, mature, expand their lives, marry, divorce, have children, decide to be childless, secure careers, change life direction, and become beautiful humans.  For that we are proud of our mothering.

For us, however, the biggest mothering blessing is to witness clients finding their true soul’s desire.

So to all the women we know (and have yet to meet) who think today is only for those with children, celebrate helping and nurturing those around you.  We and you are loved and make a massive difference!

Love, The Burnout Queens xx

Thank you to Caroline True Photography for the beautiful flower xx

It’s International Happiness Day!

The Burnout Queens hope you are feeling happy today of all days.  Why not…March 20th is not only the first day of Spring, but International Happiness Day!  We actually didn’t know it existed, but we are happy that it does because it gives us all time to reflect on the goodness in our life (I’m sure you can find something darling).  

Happiness Day got us thinking about some fabulous resources that you might like to indulge in, but first why not try this little quiz.

READ THIS STUCK-TOGETHER SENTENCE OUT LOUD:

happinessisnowhere

What did your voice tell you?  a) happiness is nowhere  OR  b) happiness is now here

Well, the differences are stark aren’t they.  Does this sentence give you a glimpse into your attitude and approach to life and your feelings?  Well…

If you read (B) then you will be feeling quite happy about how things are going.  If you read (A) then you might take this Day of Happiness to seek some inspiration on how to, well, ‘feel happy’

The Burnout Queens recommend these resources.

  1. Happiness Now!  Timeless wisdom for feeling good fast. (by Robert Holden, PhD)

           2.  be happy.  release the power of happiness in YOU (by Robert Holden, PhD)

And for those who love research:

           3. Stumbling on Happiness (by Daniel Gilbert)

 

Here’s to a day of happiness!

Love, The Burnout Queens xx

Am I Burnt Out?

AM I BURNT OUT?

 

I am struck by how many women these days easily say, “oh I’m just so burnt out”.  Sadly, I believe it’s a statement most of us seem to relate to in this fast-paced world today. Many of our clients come to us feeling down, depleted, and utterly overwhelmed…and you guessed it, they all say, I think I might be burning out.

 

What is this thing called Burnout?

We often ask people, ‘do you really know what burnout is’.  We hear a variety of common responses some accurate, some not.  Bottom line, if the information is not correct women don’t seek help and things get worse.  It’s the way Burnout takes hold.

When people hear you say you’re burned out, they usually reply that everyone is stressed.  If you think you are suffering from burnout and hear this, you walk away feeling foolish and inept for making a fuss, even though you feel about to drop from exhaustion.

Others talk about ‘being burned out’ in a manner that sounds like a fad or trend or something ultra-light.  They are the ones who seemingly act like the ‘every-ready bunny’ and keep going, hardly skipping a beat.  It makes it hard to believe they feel like you do, because you are struggling to keep up with everything.  So you lie awake wondering what’s wrong with me that I can’t cope.

This would be a good moment to give Burnout some serious thought.  What is it really and what does it look and feel like.  The best medicine is to arm yourself with proper knowledge so that you can make decisions in aid of your well-being.

The Burnout Queens have put together this Simple Symptom Checklist for Burnout to help you identify whether or not you are burning out.  See if you recognise any of the emotional, physical and mental changes for yourself.

 

Get immediate access to this Checklist

CLICK HERE:

 

 

 

 

Don’t dismiss your feelings and emotions.  If it’s just stress it can’t be that bad, right?  And if it’s really bothering you that much you must be depressed, right?  Perhaps not.

Burnout is not stress and it’s not depression, although you just might ‘feel’ depressed and stressed when you keep trying to juggle all your responsibilities and never feel you get enough reprieve to feel well.  If you are burnt out you keep trying to ‘keep going’, but with depression you just want to hide under the duvet forever! 

Let’s nip burnout in the bud.   Start by downloading our Simple Symptom Checklist for Burnout.  This is the best and simplest way to check if you are actually burning out.

If you love downloading, you will love our Learn From Us page.  Feel free to save and read as many of our resources that you think will help on your road to living a burnout-free lifestyle.

 

 

To your health!

Love, The Burnout Queens xx

The dreaded company retreat

Just have to share this with you.  We hear about this dreaded event all the time from our VIP clients.

BBC business news has a great, bold and controversial article out today: Why corporate team-building events can be terrible. (love the title already)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45260246

 

There is nothing worse than opening up your email to an invitation to attend one of these company weekends. It leaves many of our clients with that ‘pit-in-the-stomach’ feeling.

You know you can’t get out of it. You know it will be a waste of time. And this is the important bit…you believe it will be a hornet’s nest of problems.

Have a read why. We are sure many of you will relate 100%.

These events require a solid and deep understanding of group dynamics, communication skills, trust-building, and a high level of crowd control. These skills are reserved for the professionals who know the psychology behind all of these seemingly innocent and fun weekends.

The article makes a great point at the end…good managers year-round should be able to avoid the necessity of having one of these retreats in the first place.

Our best advise to clients: Beware the facilitator, and if you have to attend one of these, put your game face on, keep your guard up, follow the instructions and get out of there at your earliest convenience. You are not weak, you aren’t the problem, and you should never be the scapegoat for the wrong facilitator.

And our next executive coaching session will be devoted to ‘the debrief’ with someone you already trust.

 

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Photography: Caroline True Photography | Illustration by Veronica Miller | Site Design: Kim McDaniels | Disclaimer