Embrace your innate resources to overcome stress

“ I am utterly exhausted and overwhelmed by the amount of sh*t on my plate. Yet, here I am worrying that I am still not doing ‘enough’ “. 

This is burnout and it’s happening to every woman you know, I know, your friends & family know. 

What is burnout? 

We all have a sense of what “burnout” is - the feeling we get in our bodies, the crumbling emotions that coincide. Burnout is emotional exhaustion to an extreme - an excess build up of stress that makes overcoming unideal emotions very very difficult. 

What is the difference between a ‘stressor’ and ‘stress’? 

We experience stressors daily - work, expectations, friends, family, time, and the list goes on. 

For example, let's say you have a hostile coworker that will stop at nothing to make your 8-hour shift absolutely miserable - you speak with your supervisor and they deal with the situation by giving them a warning and changing their shift. Theoretically, the stressor has been alleviated - that coworker is no longer a direct threat.

However, just because you ‘deal’ with the stressor does not mean that you have dealt with the stress itself - the problem is that the strategies used to conquer stressors have no correlation to how we must deal with stress itself. The good news is that you hold the resources to overcome the stress.

What resources do I hold to overcome stress? 

It is safe to say that we all strive to live stress free - to be well. The truth is, wellness is not synonymous with remaining in a state of tranquility and safety. 

Wellness encompasses fluidity - fluidity through adversity, adventure, risk, safety, tranquility, and safety. The resources below are innate. They will be your guide to help you move through emotions that are inhibiting you from moving freely through the cycles of life. 

You conquer stress by prioritizing action. Physically move your body. Jump around, go for a run, meditate, swim - literally anything that you can commit to daily. Action is the remedy to a stuck emotion - it is a regulator! Yes, at times it will be very difficult because your commitment to action may require you to step away from the very thing causing the stress. It is absolutely essential for you to just trust.

Our brains know when to quit. We all have goals. We all have frustration. You’ll likely experience it when your progression towards your goals are more difficult than expected. The good news is that there are ways to manage this -

• Some goals are simply unattainable - redefining failure allows you to see the hidden benefits of finding yourself somewhere you didn’t intend. More often than not these places are where you were meant to be all along! 

• Some goals are absolutely attainable - you set a standard and expectations for how you will attain it. The problem is that our expectations rarely match our reality. Instead of creating a false reality, try to acknowledge the complexity of your goal - it will lessen the ‘argh’ moment when you are met with a roadblock. 

• Sometimes you just have to quit - this one in particular, you may have a difficult time doing. The voice in the back of your mind telling you that ‘you’ve done enough’ or that ‘it’s time to move on’, can be easily ignored. Remember, if you are feeling helpless, trapped, or exhausted you should definitely quit. You must think about the bigger picture here! 

Engage in something larger than yourself. Goals are not life, but they do correlate with what you are wanting to accomplish - the why you want to accomplish them is your meaning in life. It’s grounded in something larger than yourself - helping others, loving relationships, mentoring others, spreading love, whatever it may be. Your purpose in life will be there to help you during the good, the bad, and the inbetween. 

These resources are ones that inherently belong to you - that will protect you as you experience less than ideal times. You must actively trust that it will be worth it - wellness is not just a state of being, it is action and it will save you!

growgood psychology has a team of therapists that can provide you with a supportive environment as we help you navigate through your stress.
Overcoming stress and burnout is difficult - When met with support that is approachable and collaborative in nature, embracing your innate resources in times of adversity will feel much more attainable. This space welcomes you as you continue to grow into yourself through wholeness! You are in the driver's seat, Connect with us today to get started.