Co-owner, The Burnout Queens
How absolutely lovely to receive a note from Water Aid on Mothering Sunday in the UK.
Great to know our Christmas Chaos Charity Campaign gifts of taps and bog cement is making a difference in a village birthing centre in Tanzania.
Just a special feeling and moment to know we all helped in a very small but powerful way in other womens’ lives on this planet. Embracing all your kindness and generosity this year.
Love, The Burnout Queens xx
Yes I do, I want to build a wall!
Please don’t confuse me with that guy running for US president, but I actually do want to build a wall. You see, there’s just too much going on these days, and it’s driving me crazy. It’s grating on my nerves, making me irritable, and generally intruding on all my senses.
So what’s going on you ask? Open plan living! You know living, dining, terrace and kitchen all-in-one. Very hip, very modern, very NOW. So when I initially saw my new flat I was excited with possibilities. In my zest to decorate the space in my head, I neglected to consider how noisy it might become.
When I clock off work, I’m ready for my evening to begin. As a highly sensitive woman, there’s nothing more soothing than a little dim lighting, low hum and watching a bit of television while I get dinner. Well, my gorgeously decorated open living space doesn’t deliver…I want to build a wall!
As a highly sensitive woman yourself, can you guess where I’m going with this? The gas stove is on (noise), the fan for the stove is on (noise), the fridge is opening and closing (noise), the dinner is being prepared, chop, chop, chop (more noise), the water is being poured into saucepans (double noise), the microwave is beeping (noise) and the television is on (turned ever higher to actually hear the news or show, making it noise over the top). And don’t even get me started on the Burnout Pups playing ball, barking and generally under foot because work is done and playtime is NOW for them (and I’m not even going to start with the noise of after-dinner cleanup and the dishwasher)!
Humming, banging, barking, bright lights, clanking pots and running water… my now over-aroused and jangled system yearns for that beautifully quiet evening of rest and relaxation.
Suffice to say open plan living for this highly sensitive woman is not a match made in heaven. So I want to build a wall and call the space on the other side ‘my kitchen’. Old fashioned maybe, quiet most definitely!
Anyone else feel my pain?!?
Love, The Burnout Queens xx
We just bet that you never thought the Burnout Queens would be talking about failure. After all, we are known to be ‘glass half full’ kind of women. Promise, we won’t disappoint, we shall remain optimistic even in the face of failure.
Failure is inescapable and necessary. Seriously, failure is actually good for you! It gives you practice for life ‘cause after all, life is all about trial and error. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we simply don’t. So, as far as we can see…
If you don’t know how to fail,
well you don’t know how to live.
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We all have the skill to fail and make the most of it. Did we say “skill to fail”? Mon Dieu! Oh sure, you can be a sloppy mistake maker but that’s not Burnout Queen style. We prefer you fail with flair and you can do that. Just embrace the Power of Failure and you come away bigger and bolder.
Failure expands your repertoire.
To make failure work for you, you have to understand it. There are a few different ways in which you can fail, for instance, idea-wise. Maybe your original idea is flawed or weak. The more you work on it the more you realise it’s going nowhere. Now this is a good thing to know because you can get out while the going’s good! (You won’t believe how many articles get zapped with the ‘delete’ button!)
Then there are times you can suffer a failure of judgement! Oh yes, we have all had moments when better judgement eludes us! Maybe you trusted someone else’s judgement over your own or maybe you didn’t listen to your inner knowledge. Whatever the reason, cringe and move on!
You know sometimes we ‘fail’ just because we haven’t got the necessary skill or ability to pull something off. Easy two options…outsource or upgrade your skills. No failure in that!
Now here’s another important confession about failure…it hurts! No denying it, failure is ‘icky’ (that’s a clinical term by the way!). It is frustrating and it can be embarrassing. So go ahead, sit down and nurse your insults with cake and chocolate then get over it. It is life, and failure is going to happen again…and again…and, yes likely, again. Be human, give yourself permission to goof-up and even look foolish. Then learn from it. That’s the best way you get your courage back if failure has made you lose your nerve.
You have to defy failure if you want to defy ordinary!
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Remember, many of our failures exist only in our gorgeous heads! Private failures so to speak. Go ahead and have as many of these as you can. Stop thinking of them as ‘wrong or misled’ and think of them as ‘first tries, first drafts, or first kick at the can!’ Ideas have to evolve and ripen before they see daylight. Dress them up any way you want ‘cause no one but you sees them!
The experience of failure is profoundly personal. One person’s failure is another’s success!
There are really only a couple of responses to failure; stick with the old or try something new. You don’t need a perfect solution to every problem, you don’t even need to fix every failure. One of the joys of failure is that you can literally wipe it away with a grande gesture and start afresh. And that’s why…
Failure can be energising! In fact if you let it, failure can be the messenger of great change. When you recognise where and when you have tried and ‘failed’ you will begin to see new opportunities to try again or maybe try a totally new direction in the future.
With failure you can release the status quo and create newness in your life.
Understanding that we can fail with strength is important to both Burnout Queens and Highly Sensitive Women (often one and the same)! When we are highly sensitive we tend to weight the ‘failure’ side or our life equation much more heavily than the success side. We need to balance that scale…or burnout.
Fail privately. Fail publicly. Fail as many times as you want, but never, ever, apologise for failing. Fail with pizzazz! Own your failure proudly, then dust yourself off, straighten your crown and elegantly stride on!
Hey do you hear that noise?
That’s The Universe applauding your boldness!
PS. The BOQs would love to hear from you! Leave your wisdom and comments in the box below.
Today Dr B’s mother is turning 100 years of age. For that accomplishment alone, we say brava and the happiest of days from across the pond!
She is receiving a message from the ‘real’ Queen today and it will mean so much to her. She is a daughter of the commonwealth and queen through and through.
I can remember (as can Dr T) many royal visits to my hometown of Vancouver, getting dressed up in my very best little dress and gloves and holding the union jack…waiting for the Queen to drive by. Yes I said gloves it was the 50’s! 3 generations of women in our family, grandmother (born in England), mother (born in Canada) and me (born in Canada now living in England) all waiting to catch a glimpse of this woman who wore crowns and gowns and to whom we sang God Save the Queen every morning at school, every baseball game, and every night as the television station signed off the air.
Enjoy the day, your year and the amazing accomplishment of reaching 100 years of age.
Love, The Burnout Queens xx
Well,
This little miss just turned 6 years old! She has style that’s for sure…she wouldn’t be one of The Burnout Pups if she didn’t. The neck scarf just can’t be worn around the neck, no no no, she’s too creative for that.
If you belong to The Realm of The Burnout Queens you have to be creative and quirky, so any neck attire automatically becomes a scarf. She has seen so many pictures of the real Queen to know her fashion.
Being the little nervous pup she is (a true HSP because they exist in the animal world) the ‘cute’ factor always hides her nerves and hood-winks admirers into thinking she’s very bold. It seems to work for her. Wonder what we can find to hide the nerves and show the boldness we truly possess!
Here’s to the birthday girl and teaching us style can be uniquely bold! xx
Love, The Burnout Queens xx