Fail to plan, plan to fail. Maybe?

There are some things you just can’t plan for, but that doesn’t have to equate to failure.

Last Monday, while sitting in my favorite thrifted chair by the window in my living room, I took a deep breath. I had some new incense burning and my Discovery Weekly playing in the background while I wrote in my affirmation and gratitude journal.

I had just returned from an incredible work trip where I trained a group of powerhouse women and made it back home in time to catch the last game of my son’s baseball tournament. I had already planned for the week ahead to be more personal-heavy since it was the last week of school and my youngest’s 10th birthday.

I’ve learned from previous bouts of burnout that work-life balance is a myth. Trying to “achieve” balance just makes things worse. So, knowing what was ahead, I planned a light work schedule using my favorite energy inventory exercise.

Thursday and the last day of school wrapped up before I knew it. My husband and I had just sat down after dinner to finalize plans for my son’s birthday the next day and the three-day weekend ahead.

“MOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

I ran to my room where the birthday boy was watching YouTube. I found him holding his belly and rocking back and forth. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say the stomach bug had arrived at our house. Unfortunately, I was in the hospital with him two short hours later (Type 1 diabetics and stomach bugs aren’t a great combo).

After coming home from the hospital, continuing to care for him, and trying to salvage the weekend, all but one of the rest of the house got hit.

Before my burnout recovery journey, this whole week would have completely derailed me. I would have been more concerned with letting down my employer or clients than making sure my family was taken care of.?

Burnout cycles do crazy things to you.

But today is my first full day back to work, and I’m not even the slightest bit stressed. My clients understood. Sure, there is a project or two slightly behind, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was able to be present with my kids, take care of myself, and not feel any guilt.

This mindset didn’t happen overnight. There has been a lot of work and intention put in over the past eight years as I created my unique burnout recovery system and sustainable plan for my personality.

I’d love to share some of my burnout recovery tools with you in a free workshop I’m giving on June 25th (giving you plenty of time to plan!). The workshop will be 90 minutes long and will be held at 11:30 am CST.

I’ll walk you through my energy inventory exercise from start to finish and teach you how to use your head, heart, and body as tools to help you recover from and prevent burnout in the future. There will even be some time for any specific questions you have.

You can CLICK HERE to register for the free workshop and start your burnout recovery and prevention journey.

Cheers to Growth!

Hillarie Kay