How To Prevent Burnout From Your Healing Work
source: @janethclapp on Instagram
www.janeclapp.com
In the not so distant past, I spent so much time, energy and money in the pursuit of never ending growth and healing, as well as in trauma and oppression education that it felt like my life force energy had been sucked right out of my body.
Trauma information and discourse consumed my life.
The impact of all this was that I was exhausted all the time, I experienced increased migraines and IBS flares, I withdrew from my family and hobbies, and I felt angry and also kinda numb a lot of the time.
Not ideal. 🥴
You see, there are so many juicy opportunities and relationships in my “one wild and precious life” (h/t Mary Oliver) that I need to be present and powerful for. The habits I’d gotten stuck in were not serving them.
So, eventually I realized that something needed to change in my life in order to cultivate that presence and power.
So I put down the trauma textbooks, and I picked up some YA fiction.
I muted the trauma podcasts, and I turned up the true crime comedy podcasts (what’s up #Murderinos ✌️).
I logged off from the trauma courses, and I tuned into nature, embodiment, beautifying my home, gratitude and mindfulness.
and HOLY SHITBALLS, I started feeling better!
We simply can NOT live our lives utterly consumed by heavy content and the pursuit of “healing”.
We need meaningful rest.
We need laughter and levity.
We need beauty and awe.
And we need resonant connections that fill our hearts and souls.
Putting the heavy stuff down doesn’t mean we’re abandoning our responsibility to do the work. Doing so simply means that we don’t get crushed under the weight of it all. It means we come back to the work stronger.
Rest literally makes us stronger.
And just as importantly as building strength to Do The Work, we also put the heavy stuff down because every one of us deserves to actually live this life we’ve been gifted with…
… and marinating in trauma work will grind us into dust.
In solidarity and with so much love 💛
