Wondering what one of the most common questions I get on social media and in Q&A sessions is?

“What is this burnout management plan you speak of? And while we’re at it, how do I create one?” *insert curious eyebrow raise* 

If you want a short and easy answer, it’s, “Read my book.” *Wink* 

That’s because in my book, THRIVing After Burnout, I spend the first 22 (short!) chapters explaining the five pillars of burnout recovery, including evidence-based strategies to address each pillar. Chapter 23 is where I lay out the framework for establishing a long-term Care Plan.

But since I don’t believe in gatekeeping information, let’s talk about why you need a Care Plan and what it includes.

Why a Care Plan?

Like any transformation we want to experience in life, we’ve got to have a little bit of knowledge and a plan to implement it. 

And since our brains love patterns, and we’ve spent most of our lives...

Have you ever realized something you’ve been doing for a while no longer serves you?

I have, and it happened again recently. Some might call what I did drastic, and truth be told, it was. But it was also necessary.

The reality is, I’d been struggling with my hair for a long time. It was long and beautiful, but it was also time-consuming and stressful. Washing, drying, and styling it took so much time (and energy) that I found myself avoiding it.

Most days, I’d wash it, then throw it in a wet ponytail. Either that or I’d wear a hat so I didn’t have to do anything with it. That’s how I was living my life the majority of the time. If I had a speaking engagement, I would invest the time to do it all start to finish, but otherwise it was ponytail living.

And don’t get me wrong: there’s not a thing wrong with ponytails — they are amoral, really. No moral value either way, good or bad.

But the ponytails or hats weren't the problem....

Have you ever heard the phrase “Put out into the world what you want to get back”?

Some people call it Karma. Some call it the Law of Attraction. But it really comes back to this idea that if you show up in the world in a certain way, it seems to come back around to you. 

I’ve never really thought about this in terms of a burnout mitigation strategy until recently — and I learned it from my 3 ½ year old. 

While we were putting away our holiday decor this year, my son found a candy cane, and he really wanted to eat it. He asked me to help him open it, and I said what I usually do to positively promote independence and growth: “You try first. You can do hard things.”

He sat down and tried and tried. Finally, he lamented, “Mommy, I tried really hard, but I can’t get it open!” 

I told him I would help him and started trying to unwrap it.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve unwrapped a candy cane as of late,...

We're slowly marching towards winter break and holidays, and I'm hearing from all directions (teachers, kids, and parents) that it's tough out there. Even my clients who have been pretty steady in their burnout recovery are hard core implementing their recovery plans right now.

I see you. You don't know how much longer you can keep doing this. Something has to change. 

Let's chat about that.