Have you ever gotten so so so tired, that you couldn’t sleep?

Have you ever be so completely exhausted that…it hurt. I mean, EVERYTHING, it just HURT?

This is the best one and it was new (to me)

Have you ever been so tired, you just cried?  No reason, you just cried?

If not, SWEET!  I am happy for you!  

If you have, then you know exactly how I felt the week after our very first Thrive Yoga Festival.

The Importance of Taking Time Off

September 14, 2019, Thrive Yoga and Wellness pulled off their very first (and successful) festival.  It was simultaneously AWESOME and completely totally 100% exhausting–for me at least.

We had over 100 people come together to celebrate health and wellness at Audubon Acres, a nearby nature preserve. We practiced yoga, shopped super cool vendors, a lot of people got massages and juices–I mean, even in the rain, the drum circle was a success, so was the guided hiking meditation and slip n slide Ashtanga!

While all the attendees, and I think the majority of the volunteers had a super awesome time, I left the event feeling completely and totally 100% drained.

Going into the event, I was hurting, like everywhere, and in ways, I never had hurt before. I was so stressed out, I couldn’t sleep.  The night before the event, I was up all night, doing last-minute spreadsheets, double and triple counting things and then finalizing plans.

(most of which didn’t need to be done, but my brain was so wired, I couldn’t NOT do anything, so redoing work seemed completely logical at 3 am.)

In the days preceding the event, I lost my temper on basically everyone in my life. My poor, sweet, saint of a husband told me I was never doing another festival. Period.

Here it was, supposed to be the biggest event of my life, (because I had a SUPER TINY wedding, but a fabulous honeymoon that was completely taken care of by someone else thank goodness) and I couldn’t enjoy it.

Even after the festival was over, I still hurt everywhere, still couldn’t sleep, and was still short tempered.  This, even with a TON of CBD, adrenal supplements and melatonin. 

The week after the festival I told my husband, we needed to get out of town. STAT.

Have you ever experienced burnout?

Burnout can happen with just about anything. It’s basically when you’re drained so much –even the stuff you love doesn’t bring you joy anymore.

This term was first coined by Herbert Freudenberger in 1974 in his book, “Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement.”

In a nutshell, Burnout is definied as:

“a reaction to prolonged or chronic job stress and is characterized by three main dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism (less identification with the job), and feelings of reduced professional ability.”

The signs and symptoms are even more telling:

• Exhaustion
• Physical ailments
• Alienation from things you love
• Loss of productivity

Basically, if you’ve experienced burnout, then you know that it’s not fun.

That’s why we packed up t and headed where cellphone reception wasn’t available. (my parents graciously took our kiddos for a few of the nights even.)

We spent 4 days in and out of reach with technology. If I could’ve I would’ve spent 12 days. That’s probably what I needed.

The first 2 days I spent go go going–we hiked 5 miles on the first day and another 5 the next day. When we finally met up with my parents to grab our kiddos, those poor dears were so tired already from their few nights at The Inn at Christmas Place that meltdowns were non-stop but I drug them around the sites anyways. Somehow in the car amongst crying children,  it finally hit me–this is NOT taking time off. 

No, I wasn’t practicing or “working” (although I did shoot some videos for THRIVE ONLINE) but I still wasn’t resting.

That 3rd day was WEIRD.

We didn’t have any plans. We took the dogs on a walk, came back to the cabin, left to get pancakes (by special request) then went back to the cabin to take a nap.

Folks, I actually napped for the first time in I don’t know how long–for THREE HOURS!

It was glorious–

The 4th day was similar. We didn’t have an agenda, but we managed to have fun and…NAP and go to bed early!  Even the kids were happy to do so.

Do you want to hear the most interesting part?

On the way up to the mountains, my hip was hurting me so badly, I could barely walk without a limp. Despite supplementing with CBD and other antiinflammatories, the cortisol levels had built up so high in my body, that the inflammation exhibited itself in the form of pain in the strangest –never been injured before areas. 

I’m not kidding, I was hobbling out of town.

By day 5, I was chasing those kiddos around like normal.

What did I do differently?

NOTHING–that’s what I did. I didn’t do anything, and that was EXACTLY what was needed to help get over the burnout.

Now, here it is a few days back -and I’m not going to lie, I actually got a little agitated when we pulled back into the driveway because I Remembered what I had worked so hard to forget–all the stuff I NEEDED to do.

HOWEVER, I didn’t DOOOO any of them, at least not right away. 

I unloaded the car, put the kids to nap, napped myself for half an hour, then practiced, a short practice (because I was still nervous about my hip). I finally allowed myself to work for about an hour before heading in to teach and that was it. No more.

What’s the lesson?

I HOPE the lesson is for you to not get to the point of complete burnout like I did.

God forbid you DO get burned out, I hope you recognize it as burnout and then do your best to disconnect–even if just for a few days.

The Last 90 Days Challenge

The impetus behind the last 90 days challenge isn’t about losing weight or dropping a pants size (although I know a lot of folks would like to do one or both of those.)  The idea is to take these last few days of the year to reflect on what it is you truly want. It’s to giv.e yourself permission to succeed–heck it may even be just giving yourself the opportunity to TRY. 

Try something that you maybe haven’t done before–to take care of yourself–because if you don’t, no one else will.

You deserve to have goals, a mission, and drive. You were given a passion. It’s a god given gift that you should share! Whatever that is–be it to be a mommy, a CEO, a yoga teacher–whatever it is, you have the right to that dream, and nothing should stop you–especially not burn out.

Burnout can happen for a LOT of reasons.  

In my case, I didn’t delegate enough responsibilities (Don’t worry folks, that’s not going to be the case going forward!) I didn’t give myself time to truly focus on making sure my cup was full before giving from it anymore. 

I don’t know what it is that you may be feeling overwhelmed about right now, but I promise, even if you turn stuff off for 5 minutes and just breathe, something is gonna shift.

I did that after my practice this afternoon.  I turned on my favorite breathing app (it’s called The Breathing App) I set it to 5:5 (five counts in five counts out) for just five minutes. At the end of that practice and breathing meditation, I felt grounded, connected with my inner self, I felt ready to face the tasks ahead and BAM the next thing I knew, things were getting crossed off that list left and right before I even had a chance to think about it. 

Amazing what just a few minutes of distraction-free time can do to reset the soul.

I hope that you’ll join us in the very first #last90dayschallenge with a Thrive Yoga and Wellness twist. We are following along with the great Rachel Hollis and over half a million other folks across the globe as we focus on what’s important, reconnect with what drives us, and stay accountable for ending the year strong. Don’t start the next decade off at a deficit! Finish the year stronger than ever so 2020 can be a HOME RUN!

If you’re in the Chattanooga Area, we are offering a discount on memberships for the last three months of the year. You can get an unlimited membership for just $99/month and experience the life changing practice that is yoga. (just call the studio at 423-290-2326 to get hooked up!)

 If you’re not in the Chattanooga Area, I invite you to join us inside the Thrive Online community!  I will be leading the first October live training on Thursday, Oct 3rd at 10 am Eastern, and we will do special classes throughout the rest of the year celebrating the end of this decade and the birth of something new and amazing–YOU in 2020!