Have you noticed that everything you do, say, think, feel, eat, drink, and breathe affects your energy and hence, your health?
When I left Santa Barbara and a successful professional life as a trauma therapist, I was burnt out. Why? I had gotten into habits that depleted my energy. Even though I was a trauma therapist and had all the tools, too many of life’s challenges had piled up. I had a father with Alzheimer’s disease, a sister with a mental illness (living on the street or in a hospital) and a mother who was becoming more and more depressed, and I was still working full time!
I tried to help my family, but after a while my tank was empty.
How Do We Recover from Burnout?
My story has a happy ending. I found a way to live the life of my dreams. In Buenos Aires I danced tango and healed. My energy came back.
The truth is, I had succumbed to too much pressure. It can be a slow path to heal. I truly believe we can all change in ways that serve us better.
Let me follow with an excerpt from my book on reinvention, Creating Magic in Midlife (and beyond).
Everything we listen to, every environment we live in, every place we visit or walk through, every sunset, sunrise, and bird song, the movies we watch, our children’s laughter and tears, all affect how we feel. How we feel will create a sense of well-being, or maybe we’ll feel depleted or have lower energy. If you want higher energy, choose more consciously. We can choose what kind of energy we have.
Is Choice Possible and Why Be More Conscious?
We can and are meant to digest life’s experiences, like we digest and metabolize our food. If we don’t, things pile up inside.
What if we don’t do that? It is a fact that stuck or undigested experiences can create problems in our body/mind. We don’t want to be cluttered with thoughts and feelings. By being more aware of our responses to life’s experiences, metabolizing as we go, we can enjoy a sense of well-being most of the time.
Can You Be More Aware of Holding Your Breath? Can You Accept Your Feelings?
You can start where you are. Take a breathing break every hour or so and check in with your body. Relax your shoulders. That may be enough to be more present and start to relax.
We can take time to feel and experience events on an emotional and energetic level. We can feel touched, annoyed, pressured. We have thoughts about what happens. Taking time to review our desires can create a new feeling of aliveness. On the other hand, rushing and feeling pressured makes us feel out of sorts. Imagine a ball filling with air. Eventually, it will reach the point where it bursts.
Ask yourself, do you process your day’s experiences? Do you hold on to reactions from the day? Maybe someone you know, or even you, keeps too much locked away. Don’t be the balloon! Exploring your reactions to life’s experiences can help you from exploding!
I believe, contrary to popular belief, joy and aliveness are not just about feeling good. They are about feeling what you feel, experiencing what you experience, letting things affect you, and then moving on.
Let’s Reflect:
How do you digest life? How can you remove pressure and take more time for yourself?
