The shocking truth about burnout is that it’s not usually burnout. More often than not it’s betrayal that causes you to feel cynical, disconnected, overwhelmed, and exhausted.
It’s my hunch that, like me, the life you are living is a far cry from the life you thought you would live. Fairy tale fantasies aside, I’m fairly certain that none of us dreamed of living through a pandemic, a mortgage crisis, or a potential world war. Not to mention the onslaught of personal and professional heartbreak that we face – more often than we care to admit.
The first step in “managing burnout” is stop “managing burnout.” Instead, re-frame your burnout in terms of betrayal. When you do, you will get clear of what you wanted or expected out of life versus what you actually got. Knowing this is empowering because it shows where you are:
- Unclear about who you are, what you value, the legacy you want to create, and what you are willing to tolerate
- Failing to create or enforce boundaries that support well-being while pursuing what brings you joy
- Conflating what you do and accomplish with who you are and what you are inherently worth
Knowing where you are at and where you want to be is the essential first step in re-choreographing your life in a way that supports happiness and well-being. Stay tuned, this newsletter will help you get clear again. So you can move from exhausted to enthusiastic, cynical to optimistic, detached to engaged, ineffective to potent, and overwhelmed to overjoyed. No matter how “burned out” you feel right now.
Because, as I said earlier, it’s probably not burnout. It’s betrayal. And unlike burnout, betrayal can be addressed and healed for good. Leaving you with the kind of life you dreamed about before.