Does your career support you doing what brings you joy?
I believe in practicing what you preach. And any clients of mine will know that I preach a lot about career wellbeing. That’s because I worry about the numbers of people presenting with burnout. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s no way to live a life.
I get it though. There was a time in my life (earlier incarnation in the corporate world of work) when taking sick days off would have sent me into a tailspin. The amount of work that would have piled up while I was away would have given me zero time to recover or ease back into things. Even to take annual leave required so much additional work to prepare for the holiday, that I needed a holiday just to recover from preparing to take it! Familiar story to many, no doubt.
So I talk a lot about things like work life balance, making sure that your definition of career success includes the kind of life you want to be living, knowing what matters to you so that you can have strong boundaries around how you give your time away, etc.
Last week I had to cancel some clients as I got over another wintery virus (I know, it’s the middle of spring already, but try telling the weather that!).
A few days later, I got out of my sick bed to harvest the flowers out of the garden because there was a storm brewing. And as I stood in the kitchen arranging masses of beautiful bright spring flowers, I was in my happy place.
It was one of those moments that caused me to reflect on how different things are. Not living life on the edge of burnout, but allowing space in my life to recover and do things that bring me joy.
If I could help just one person to beat burnout and experience a similar transformation I’d be happy – but getting to do it on a regular basis truly makes my heart sing!
If your job or career isn’t supporting the kind of life you want to be living, or if you are constantly living on the edge of burnout, get in touch. I would sincerely love to help you!
