Burnout is a common thread amongst millennials. What most of us don't know about burnout is that it happens beneath the surface. It's an internal struggle heightened by a perceived external barrier. Limiting beliefs are at the core of burnout.
What I've come to realize in working with black women is that awareness is the key to staying lit. If you don't know what's beneath the surface how will you be able to avoid burnout?
You won't.
Burnout is the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion and breakdown of your body. Chronic stress and exhaustion are the easiest signs to acknowledge. You're mind, body, and spirit goes into fight or flight mode.
Burnout will overtake your life and become apart what you believe is necessary for success. You will call it hustle like many others do. Hustling has taken on a whole new meaning and it's becoming increasingly harmful especially to black women. Hustling used to mean ambitious, determined, disciplined within reason. Now it's all of those things with an emphasis on the neglect of one's self.
But there's another way, one that will put you in alignment with your heart's desires. It's called harmony.
Operating from a space of harmony instead of hustle is the key to you staying LIT and not burning out.
Harmony is when your mind, body, & spirit are in agreement. You say what you mean and you mean what you say. It’s a value that you refuse to flex on.
When you're in harmony you will not flex on the things that preserve you.
That includes but is not limited to eating, sleeping, taking time off, and nourishing your mind, body, & spirit outside of work.
Here are 3 things you can do today to stay LIT:
1. Reflect – Think about how you define success and what it takes to be successful. Write it down.
2. Assess – Look at how you defined success, create a list of 4 columns — label them stop, start, more, less. It's time to redefine your hustle and infuse more harmony into it.
3. Purge – This is the most powerful part. Now is the time to let go of the things that you need to stop and do less of. Release it and move forward with your new values.
Staying LIT is absolutely possible with the consistency and a heightened awareness of harmful habits. Cheers to your glow up, sis!