Restoring in the Face of Burnout
Hello fellow heart-centered leaders -
It’s summertime in the Northern Hemisphere and into the deep winter months in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on where you live and your personal comfort level with traveling and gathering with the current state of COVID, many people are taking staycations, trips close to home, and some are traveling to see family and friends or vacation in far away places.
Seeing your OOO messages is bringing me so much joy! Connecting at the beginning of work calls by asking how people are restoring and reconnecting, is one of my favorite current practices. It is such a delight to learn what is restorative to an individual (I learn more about them through this information) as well as the expansive and creative ways to think about restoring or honoring practices that refuel our reserves.
Lucy McBride thoughtfully explores our current collective state of burnout in her recent Atlantic article (linked below in articles), By Now Burnout is a Given. For me, it is helpful to acknowledge what we have juggled and lived through the last year and a half. For some of us, this was accumulated juggling on top of prior years that were emotionally depleting. I’m such a glass-half-full person it is sometimes challenging to pause and list out the challenges, traumas, and emotionally taxing experiences. It is as if by acknowledging them and seeing the list I may succumb to the overwhelm. In our current times, this practice of assessing where I am (or where you are or where we are, depending on the circumstances) has become critical to making thoughtful steps to move forward.
In the face of inevitable burnout, how are you restoring? Reply to this email and let me know! One of my favorite OOO messages was sent with a photo of the lake a colleague was camping next to. Ah, I felt her bliss and cheered her offline time with this thumbnail image.
I’m currently hiking in Lassen Volcanic National Park. I’ve become enthralled with the colors of the lava rock (the palate!), delighted by the dragonflies covering the lake as I kayak, and intrigued by my lung capacity to expand as I hike at new altitudes. Spotty cell coverage and just enough food complete my OOO time to restore myself to a place where I can see what is and imagine what will be.
Bumpass Hell Pass in Lassen Volcanic National Park
“Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the EArth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights up the whole sky.”