Lesson #2: Burnout, Stress, and Anxiety (Day 3)

Follow along with Day 3 in your workbook. 

Hello, Explorer!

Today will be a challenging day as we dive into the topics that are important, yet difficult to process and manage. Please take your time, go slow, and find joy in knowing that we are in this process together.

Burnout  

Have you ever experienced a true burnout? The feeling of being completely empty, without motivation to continue forward, and an overlying emotion of depletion? Like many others, we are there with you.

Burnout occurs when you have been tirelessly overwhelming yourself with tasks and goals without giving yourself the appropriate amount of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Day after day, the same mundane tasks keep piling up until you wonder why you are doing this and why this is happening to you. Perhaps, you can sympathize with a group of us that has been feeling uninspired for some time and cannot get out of that headspace. If you have wondered what is the point and why does this task even need to be done, know that you are not alone because we have asked these same questions, too. Life is not easy! We have to deal with circumstances that are out of our control, but we also have to deal with others and, ultimately, ourselves.

Stress  

Stress is absolutely unavoidable… No matter who you are. This is the most common negative feeling and emotion that we all share. You know the feeling you get when your chest starts to tighten up, and it seems as if you are caught in a never-ending storm of reminders, goals, chores, relationships, career, and yourself.  Stress is a feeling we get when we are constantly challenged or overwhelmed. Although there are many aspects of life that are out of our control, how we react is completely within our range. Stress can trick your mind to give in to fear because of anticipation, failure, and the need to reach your untapped potential. 

We strongly believe that leading a life is possible where our reaction to stress is diminished to a single moment. Take a deep breath, assess the situation, realize what you can and cannot control, and then choose what your course of action will be. Remember to have full control of your emotions. With enough practice, this exercise becomes easier and easier when you can safely and openly acknowledge your full range of emotions. Give yourself the permission to feel what you need to feel in that particular moment, take a step back, assess, and then act upon only what you can control.

Anxiety  

I have found anxiety to be such an interesting feeling and an often formidable opponent. Anxiety feels like an amalgamation of stress and fear, and each counterpart debilitates one by one until we are at the bottom of another downward spiral. So many people in our lives deal with anxiety, and the reasons and causes of anxiety are wide-ranging. Whether anxiety arises because of a school exam, a doctor’s appointment, the economy, lab results, auditions, interviews, or social gatherings, all of these anxieties are similar in that we are about to engage in a head-on collision with the unknown. Anxiety is the worry about an imminent event or an uncertain outcome, and the feeling usually grows when we are worried about something that has not yet happened and our mind wanders about the many negative outcomes.

There are many varying degrees of anxiety that a person can feel. Perhaps you feel very little anxiety and tend to brush it off immediately as soon as it starts to creep in. Maybe you experience restless nights staying awake and anxiety consumes your every thought. Regardless of what makes you anxious or how you deal with your anxiety, always know that you can make changes to improve your mental well-being. You have the ability to understand how you feel and why you are feeling that way. You possess the power to quiet down your anxious thoughts and proactively work through these mental obstacles.

Overwhelm

Our lives are often plagued with constant stress and anxiety. Moments that overwhelm never seem to be far off in the distance, as they come up throughout our week, time and again. As the world becomes more digital, we also tend to close up into our wallowing of despair and uneasiness. Times can get so bad that we break down and cry to allow a sense of relief from our tears, which, in fact, can be therapeutic. However, once we evaluate our thoughts, what steps should we take to nourish our mental, physical, and spiritual selves?

The average person may think that self-care means getting mani-pedis, going to the hair salon, treating yourself to a fancy dinner, splurging on luxurious items, taking an exotic trip, or simply spending money on yourself. There is absolutely no right or wrong formula for taking care of yourself. This is all about bringing joy to your life in whichever way it pleases you. However, the version of self-care that most people indulge in usually only provides temporary relief. So, the question becomes – how can we treat ourselves extravagantly and with the deep understanding that, because “I” am the only “me” in this world, I am rare and precious, and we need to unlock the deeper nourishing of our mind, body, and spirit?

Self-Care is Therapy for the Mind, Body, & Soul

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times people have told me that they think self-care is only for people that are desperate, fragile, mentally unstable, or in need of counseling/therapy. Perhaps there was a time when therapy was considered essential to those who fall under those categories. However, we live in a new age where the movement of self-care is open for anyone to partake. In fact, there is not a person that exists in this world that does not need to practice self-care, as even the strongest, wisest, smartest, and most exemplary of people are all broken in different ways. Self-care is a form of self-therapy that can be practiced in so many ways by anyone who wishes to open their hearts & minds.

Goodbye, Explorer!