Are You A High-Achieving Woman Experiencing Symptoms of Burnout?
Do you struggle to meet your standards for what you want out of life? Have such expectations kept you from feeling like you measure up? Do you believe that in order to achieve your goals, you end up compromising your sanity and sense of well-being?
Maybe you sacrifice sleep to accomplish more, or skimp on self-care activities like meditation or exercise. Because of your overachieving standards, you might not give yourself time to rest. Instead of taking a minute to breathe when you get home from work, for example, perhaps you check emails to see what you missed on the ride home.
Burnout can leave you feeling exhausted. Moreover, you may be feeling alone because you’ve sacrificed connections with partners, friends, and family in pursuit of the gilded path, inadvertently stifling your own needs.
Burnout may also be affecting your mind and body. If you are not the normal, productive self you once knew, then this change could cause your mental and emotional well-being to suffer. You might become more susceptible to depression and anxiety. You may also struggle with feelings of helplessness and blame yourself for this burnout.
These feelings aren’t your fault--burnout is simply your body’s response to a lack of balance in life. Yet, it is possible to get back on track. Burnout prevention and recovery coaching can help you reclaim who you are and live a life-affirming, high-powered existence once again.
Anyone Can Experience Burnout
Our tireless efforts have helped us to reach a solid point in careers--maybe we’ve temporarily given up friends, social outings, and family to “get ahead” in life. But as time has gone on and we’ve added layers onto life--a job, a partner, children, caretaking, volunteer work--our motivations may have begun to work against us, creating a never-ending list of responsibilities.
In addition, our culture plays a huge role in the burnout we experience as career women. As a result, we may end up shouldering an additional burden of supporting and encouraging friends, family, and community members as more is expected from us due to our achievements and capabilities.
As women, we may struggle with imposter syndrome. Perhaps we give more because we feel we should prove our worth where inequities such as the gender pay gap are a reality. And for women of color, in particular, the intersection of race and societal inequities can create added stress. As a result, we might work harder just to be seen in an effort to prove ourselves.
Many of us don’t know how to prevent burnout. For one, we may have formed our identities around our roles in our homes and communities, and to take time for ourselves means that not only do we accomplish less, but we also risk losing part of who we are. So out of fear, we never learn to truly balance our roles with the need for self-care.
Nevertheless, there is hope for tomorrow. Burnout prevention and recovery coaching can help you find peace while maintaining your identity. It can help you to deal with unique life stressors in a healthy way while still doing what you love.
Burnout Prevention and Recovery Coaching Can Help You Thrive In Each Area Of Life
Maybe you’ve given your all to work and have attained a level of success you’re proud of. But if you fear that you will eventually run out of steam from overworking yourself, then burnout prevention and recovery coaching might be for you. Burnout coaching offers the support, guidance, and accountability you need to recover and live your best life.
At Brathwaite Consulting, my compassionate, practical approach allows you to rewire lifelong habits and develop personal expectations that integrate work and life responsibilities in a healthy way. I’ve helped many women from all walks of life overcome their fears and find time to refill their minds, bodies, and spirits all while still honoring their life goals. I also pride ourselves on cultural competency--whether you are a first-generation American or career woman with special needs, I am sensitive to the perspective your background brings to the table.
For the intake process, I will ask you to fill out forms to review in our first session together. Here, we will delve into your present situation and individual experiences with burnout. With this information, we will then develop an action plan to address challenges to improve your overall quality of life.
In ongoing sessions, we’ll explore limiting beliefs you might have about yourself and start to make mindset shifts. I will also share targeted burnout prevention strategies to improve your habits so you may thrive without sacrificing your mental, physical, or emotional well-being. Together, we will roll up our sleeves and look at the various aspects of your life to review what is working versus what is not, and address each issue one by one.
For example, if you are looking to prevent burnout at work, coaching can help you build habits that lead to improved sleep and relaxation. Additionally, coaching can also give you skills to be a more efficient leader so you have more time for yourself and others in your life. I will also pull skill-building from my book Better Daily Self-Care Habits, where I share tips for making small changes that can add up to life-changing results.
I offer a holistic approach to burnout coaching so you can pinpoint multiple areas of your life for improvement. This approach has helped many of my clients to:
Reduce stress, and overwhelm
Make life changes such as finding more satisfying work
Become more optimistic
Optimize their quality of life
Additionally, I will also share positive psychology techniques to improve self-esteem, relationships, and overall well-being by focusing on your strengths.
Burnout is a natural byproduct of overexertion, something that any high-achieving woman is likely to experience at some point in life. At Brathwaite Counseling, however, I believe that you can achieve both your goals and balance. For 10 years, I have helped leaders and executives manage stress and find balance in life--I am here to do the same for you.
With support and research-based strategies, burnout prevention and recovery coaching can help you develop the habits to succeed while fully honoring the different areas of your life.
Perhaps you still have questions about burnout prevention and recovery coaching...
I need to finish this project. Then I’ll take a break and everything will be fine.
Burnout is more than something that happens when you have too much on your plate. It can also be caused by your approach. If you have a habit of always putting things off for yourself in order to finish a task 120 percent, then this pattern could eventually lead to stress, which causes burnout. Burnout coaching helps you look at your behaviors holistically within the context of your responsibilities and environment so you can remedy the habits that lead to burnout.
If I don’t finish this task then who will? This work needs to get done.
To accomplish anything, you need rest, which allows you to replenish your energy levels to get more done. Also note that paying attention to your well-being is one way to lead by example and show co-workers or direct reports to care for themselves as well. And in seeing the value you place in your well-being, you are also showing them to treat you with the same respect you show yourself. Burnout coaching is one way to start placing this value in yourself.
I’m good at what I do because I work well under pressure. If I slow down, I won’t be as good.
While many people thrive under pressure, too much stress has been proven to harm your health and happiness.1 Our bodies are wired for balance--in a high-stress environment, for example, we might experience a fight-or-flight response followed by a period of recovery to calm our nervous system. Without focus on recovery, your body can eventually suffer from burnout. And I’d like to help you find the support you need to avoid this possibility.
Are You Ready To Find Ways To Recover In The Midst Of Your Ambition?
You deserve to give yourself what you need to breathe deeply and recover so you can reach your fullest potential in your career and life. If you’re interested in learning more about how to navigate life from a place of balance, I invite you to contact us to see how recovery and burnout prevention coaching can help today.
