symptoms of burnout | The Burnout Queens

Not My Responsibility!

January 22, 2016

Twice this week clients, professional HSP working women, have wanted my opinion about situations that had come up at work and the common denominator…is this my responsibility?

Responsibility is tricky for us highly sensitive (dare I say, oh sure why not since I’m one too!) perfectionistic, over-achieving, and highly ethical and responsible women! You see we have been raised and trained to take responsibility for everything and anything whether it actually is our responsibility or not! And we step up and then we stew about it. Two scenarios:

First one: Client is aware that a colleague is partaking in some pretty unethical behaviour. My client had alerted the owners of the company about this possibility when they hired this other worker – it wasn’t a suggestion to not hire them just to keep an eye on them. Over and over again my client tried to raise the red flag, which was part of her original consultancy responsibility but wasn’t really listened to by the powers that be. This time my client directly addressed the situation with the person who was carrying out this questionable behaviour to be met with a complete ‘who cares!’ attitude. So now she was wondering do I go to ‘the bosses’ with it? Lots of you are probably saying, ‘of course!’ (probably because you are also HSPs full of integrity).

My response…not your responsibility any longer, let it go. They didn’t listen to you before, they are not going to listen now. Take yourself off the hook and don’t enter a contentious situation.

Second situation: Budget! My client, a financial exec, brings forward an invoice of varying tech costs with a whole list of reasons why some should be excluded from these tech consultants. Bosses attitude is “just pay it!” But, but, but…

My response…not your company, his company, you did your job, you raised the issue, you showed him the evidence…pay it, it’s his money!

I’ll probably have lots of people disagreeing with me, even I disagree with me sometimes! However, I also know that our proclivity to take 150% responsibility for things that aren’t ultimately our responsibility gets us into trouble.

Take the steps you need to feel like you can look at yourself in the mirror, know you have done your best, then let it go. You can’t be right, or listened to, all the time. Darn!

Love, Dr Toby (The Burnout Queens)) xx

What’s Age Anymore?

January 21, 2016

You know when you rush through a station and something catches your eye, well I was rushing through the internet the other day and this blog caught my eye. It was called Wonder Women: The Stars Who’ve Turned Seventy and Still Continue to Shine (by Alison Coldridge, 19/01/2016). I had to have a look and I can only say…Wow! These women are inspirational, not just because they have celebrity or look amazing, but because they are still relevant and working at what they love to do. I swear that is why they are all so beautiful. So here is their list, then we added a few of our own.

Their list: Dolly Parton (70); Diane Keaton (70); Bette Midler (70); Helen Mirren (70); Debbie Harry (70); Jane Fonda (78); Vivienne Westwood (74); Grace Coddington (74); Goldie Hawn (70); Tina Turner (76); Judi Dench (81); Maggie Smith (81); Joan Collins (82) .

Our additions: Mary Berry (80); Shirley Bassey (79); Cleo Laine (88); Angela Lansbury (90); Queen Elizabeth (90); Bridget Riley (84); Rose Hilton (85); Louise Hay (89); Joanna Lumley (70); Carole King (73); Carly Simon (70); Daphne Selfe (85); Yoko Ono (82); Carmen Dell’Orefice (84).

I know someone out there is going to say they are all stars, well you are right they are all stars in their known field and many of them have made massive contributions behind the scenes as humanitarians and activists as well.

We know them, we see them and I for one appreciate their visibility. I wish it were as easy to name off all the brilliant women scientists, philosophers, legal minds, or economists who are still working at what they are passionate about past 70! If you know of some please share so we can all broaden our horizons.

Take a moment and look up some of their accomplishments. I’ll simply say it again, Wow!

With love and inspiration to all…Dr. Toby (The Burnout Queens) xx

Late For An Important Date?

January 20, 2016

If you are a woman always struggling to show up on time, this is for you.

We know you are juggling so many balls in the air that it’s often hard to fit everything into your day. Quite often you may find yourself running late. More often you overbook your day because you are busy running around for everyone else in your life (in which case, we need to talk). You may even want to re-acquaint yourself with Dr B’s post September 10th, 2015 about her client’s struggle with time.

But fear not dear one, The Burnout Queens have a Contingency System designed for you. Between your bookings, jobs, school run, clients, meetings, and any blank space in your diary think…

20 30 40 50 or 60 MINUTE INTERVALS

The result? Travel time, shifting gears, grabbing lunch, finding your breath…all sorted. Who knows, you may even have time for a quiet cuppa and cake (a Burnout Queens must-do)!

Love, The Burnout Queens xx

If You Are A No Show Alert, Alert!

January 19, 2016

What do you do when a client doesn’t show up for the second time in the month and it was booked and rebooked?

You have a choice. As a sensitive and creative therapist/coach in the past I would have been flexible to the point of giving in to the non-existent structure of the client. And of course, to keep the client’s business.

Now, I perceive the constant ‘no show’ as a sign that motivation is gone for this client, and my time and energy invested with my heart and training is not taken seriously, nor deemed worth much!

So the choice…new rules learned over the years is to give clients a 15 minute window of lateness and then get on with things. No sense chasing around after someone who is not able (nor wants) to be caught.

We have a motto in our business based on an old commercial in the US: ‘catch you now, or catch you later’ and it has always been spot on. If it’s not the client’s time, it won’t happen, but when it is…they will be back!

I am sure that many highly sensitive and smart women in business give clients the extra, extra mile and ‘do’ the right thing by their clientele. Ladies, ‘do’ the right thing by your own self. Stretching too far sometimes means you loosen too much of your self and self-respect.

Evolution. Dr Bev (The Burnout Queens) xx

Hello from Brighton & London: 2 January 2016

January 2, 2016

How was your December Darling? We hope you are resting-up after the hectic, frantic antics of the festive season. The Burnout Queens and Pups are having a leisurely holiday break and will be ‘back in the saddle’ in early January.

We love surrounding ourselves with beauty and holiday time in London fits the bill nicely. We tripped up to London for a day of walking, shopping and sightseeing in Piccadilly (outside The Ritz) and Carnaby Street (we’re 60’s children so Carnaby means a special groovy) to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the decorations.

This holiday was purposely quieter than last (we had 5 family members from Canada visiting, ho, ho, ho). This is our first Christmas seaside so we shared meals with new friends, walked The Lanes and Laines (yes they are different), started a new puzzle (what were we thinking) and got creative redecorating and reorganising (the pups think these are great toy balls).

Of course there’s been a lot of cuddling the pups, eating chocolates and watching telly cause that’s the perfect mix for these two HSPs. But you know us, we are never far away from a good cup of tea and cake!

Listen, if your holidays didn’t go to plan and you swear you’re tossing the whole thing next year, take heart darling and grab our video “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Chaos”. We’ve extended our Christmas Chaos Charity Campaign to January 5th, so here’s your chance to make next year more delightful rather than dreadful! The bonus is with a mere £2 purchase, we (that’s you, us and the UK gov’t) give a young girl an education instead of spending her days walking miles to gather water. How Burnout Queen brilliant!

https://theburnoutqueens.com/christmas-chaos/

What’s left? We have lots of ideas swimming in our heads ready to put down on paper for all of you, but more about that later. For now…

Love for 2016!