How the Halloween Baking Championship Reminded Me I'm Human

I was thinking about all that’s coming down the line this next month and it reminded me of something that happened last year.

I had a plan in place to keep me on track with providing value to my people. I was to write a new blog each week by Friday.

Usually, I’d have at least a draft done midweek so my copywriter can proof it and make suggestions. But for whatever reason, that week it wasn’t happening.

I KNEW I needed to write a blog. But I couldn’t make myself.

I sat there, staring at the blank page — nothing was coming to me. I Slacked a message to my copywriter that said, “No blog this week unless I get inspired.”

With that I closed my laptop, left my desk, and sat in my living room.

I cued up YouTube TV and started scrolling through the shows. I selected a show and began watching: The Halloween Baking Championships.

As I watched, I took a nice, nostalgic trip down memory lane.

When I was a kid, I loved baking with my mom. We’d baked during the holidays and since she’d passed away earlier that year, watching the show made me joyful and sad — all at the same time.

As I watched, I made a list of ingredients I’d need to do a bunch of baking and texted it to my husband. He came home that night with arms full of baking necessities.

I binge-watched the entire season of that show in ONE day.?

The next day, I did something I hadn’t done in quite a while. I sat down and came up with dinner ideas, including what I needed to make each one. (My husband had been steering that ship for awhile since I was in a funk with it.)

On Sunday, I baked pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (https://eatwithclarity.com/gluten-free-pumpkin-muffins/) with my son, who was 3 ?? at the time. But that’s not all. I cooked dinner, too — the first in a good, long while.

The next day, I thought, “What causes a busy burnout strategist to abandon her weekly blog, binge-watch a baking show for the entire day, then have this re-emergence of a love for cooking and baking?”

A couple of things came to mind:

Rest doesn’t always have to be planned or strategic

I talk about purposeful, planned, strategic rest a LOT. The reason I do is because most folks don’t purposefully and strategically plan for it. They don’t engage in what I call, “active resting,” and it’s SO powerful!

The baking championships made me realize I’d stopped resting spontaneously — I may have even shamed myself in moments when I desired it. But impromptu rest has SO much value.

Grief cannot be ignored and it must be expressed

My mother was the most influential, supportive, and consistent person in my life. During her last 6 months, I didn’t work much and I turned down a lot of opportunities.

After she passed, I threw myself into my work, publishing my book, and booking clients all over the US. But it became an opportunity for me to avoid feeling and expressing the grief of losing her.

The weekend of watching the Halloween Baking Championships was big for me.

It was 3 days of doing nothing related to my work. Watching TV. Grieving. Baking. Therapy. TV. Grieving. Family. Family. Family.

It revitalized my enjoyment of my regular, everyday life in ways I didn’t even know I was missing.

Bottom line: I am human.

But so are you.

There is no mission or job that is more important than or circumvents our need for deep rest or deep grief.

So plan your rest. Actively rest. But when you feel the need to binge-watch a show, do it — without guilt and shame.

Allow yourself to feel the sadness you need to feel about whatever in your life is so sad to you right now.

It made a huge difference for me that week last year, but it also changed how I move through my life going forward.

Being emotionally healthy and avoiding or recovering from burnout isn’t a perfect journey. But it’s a journey worth taking.

Know what else? I love being on that journey with you.

What are some ways you love to disconnect from work and life and sit in the moment? I’d love to hear about them, so feel free to share them with me!

?? New to my world? I’m Jen! I am here to help you and your team work toward navigating burnout!

Connect with me for tips and encouragement, or if you’d like to work together. Don’t forget to hit the ?? so you don’t miss a thing!

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